Expectations of Development
by kiraiakuma
Summary: One year of easy missions. That's all Sakura wanted. Instead she gets Zabuza and Orochimaru. Well, if fate wants to throw her head first into the ninja world, she'll oblige. Even if she has to sacrifice her innocence.
1. Plans don't survive reality

Expectations of Development

--o--

Chapter 1: Plans don't survive reality

--o--

Disclaimer: I'm on here, what more do you want?

--o--

Shaking slightly in terror Sakura carefully watched Zabusa. How the hell did this happen? She was a genin! Useless, weak and absolutely unable to fight a jonin class ninja like Zabusa.

This should be an easy escort mission, maybe beat up some weak bandits, but most likely you should only bore yourself to death.

But no, Naruto had to be noble and stupid. And Sasuke had to proof that he wasn't scared either.

Idiots, the both of them.

Of course, she couldn't have said anything. Well she could, but she needed every scrap of respect she could get from them if she wanted to stay on the team. Wasn't hard with Naruto, but Sasuke...

If she weren't so terrified she would sigh in exasperation.

Now if anybody would ask her, they should be running in terror. Zabusa was busy keeping Kakashi imprisoned, his clones while strong probably couldn't take out all three of them, so they should be able to make a clear getaway.

Except that once Zabusa didn't have to worry about them, he would kill Kakashi and then go after them.

Damn.

She didn't sign up to end like this! They promised a few years of relatively easy work in the recruitment package. Well ok they didn't, but it was implied! No killing anybody till after the first year, or making chunin. Whichever came first.

And now this. The first mission outside of Konoha and they faced a psychotic mass murderer. If they survived this she would kill Tazuna herself!

Naruto broke the stalemate. Suddenly he charged Zabusa's water clone.

"Naruto!" She heard herself scream desperately and closed her eyes. She didn't want to see the idiot die.

The sounds of somebody beating the shit out of somebody else probably Naruto, reached her ears, making the closed eyes useless.

So she opened them again, Naruto groaned, getting back on his feet. The clone must have kicked him back to them, after beating him around a bit. Going by his new bruises.

She felt the urge to add to the bruises, what he did was so incredibly stupid an suicidal...

She stared at Naruto's forehead protector, he had actually managed to retrieve it. How he did it, she had no idea, but he did.

"Sasuke," he said, grinning wildly. "I've got a plan."

Sakura could only stare stupidly as Sasuke nodded. They were actually going to try and fight!

Were they insane? Did they have any idea... well no probably not, though admittedly they also had little choice. Do or die. That were the only choices they had.

She watched, as Sasuke threw his giant shuriken, watched as Zabusa easily evaded it, and the one following in the shadow of the first.

And suddenly Naruto replaced the first shuriken behind Zabusa.

Alright, so maybe only one of them actually was on the genin level, she knew Sasuke was about as good as a veteran genin, obsessive like he was. But Naruto apparently did have a few hidden, or not so hidden, talents as well.

She almost grinned, that meant she could improve in her own time, and let them carry her. For now at least. She should be able to enjoy what little remained of her childhood for a bit longer.

Naruto finished the impressive combo, he and Sasuke had apparently made up without words, by throwing a kunai at Zabusa, forcing him to release Kakashi.

That ended the fight. And Kakashi revealed his sharingan.

Sakura faked surprise quite well in her opinion. That Sasuke actually showed surprised, his eyes were wide like saucers. Just confirmed to her, that he had no idea what he was doing.

But, considering how easily the situation had gone out of control, neither did she. Once this was over with she would have to find a way to avoid missions liable to go wrong quite as catastrophic as this one. At least until she became a chunin. Then those kind of missions would be fine. But not earlier!

Watching Kakashi fight Zabusa... wow, what a display of ninjutsu, she briefly felt jealousy rising, but she pushed it down again. Kakashi had paid for that skill, paid for it in blood and misery and loss. If she never paid that price, she would be glad for whatever level of skill she managed to accumulate.

When the foreign ninja showed up she didn't say anything, Kakashi kept on his feet by willpower alone. And if the ninja thought he was caught... well they would make ugly corpses.

--o--

So, to recap. Kakashi taught them tree walking, something Sakura had down in about half an hour, the idiots... err her teammates, had taken a day or two to do it. If Kakashi had actually wanted her to improve he would have kept her going up that three to get some stamina.

Seeing as she didn't plan to improve much yet and had already decided to keep out of the fighting she didn't complain when he send her to protect Tazuna.

She had to say, the fight that happened when Zabusa showed up was... well she wanted to say as awesome as the first battle, but it was really just terrifying. Especially since she couldn't see anything that was going on in the mist Zabusa summoned.

Once the mist dissipated though, she could see that Kakashi had Zabusa well in hand. Sadly the same couldn't be said about Sasuke and the other ninja, Haku, Zabusa called him.

Though if she wasn't mistaken Naruto had shown up at some point. She felt a brief spike of chakra at least.

She had stayed at Tazuna's side, pretty much doing nothing, as he wasn't of any interest to Zabusa or his underling, as long as her teammates were still alive.

She looked at the cage of ice, surrounding Sasuke, straining to make out anything. But she couldn't, she wasn't even sure if she wanted to. If the idiot died... she didn't spend that much time running after him to lose him like this. He couldn't die. And Naruto...

The ice burst, Haku came flying through one of his mirrors in a cascade of glittering ice. It was strangely beautiful, seeing the body fly, surrounded by fragments of ice.

Naruto followed, an animal-like snarl on his face. His chakra was wild, raw, evil. Sakura didn't want to know what that meant, not yet. She hoped he didn't remember what he was doing, berserkers seldom did, at least she hoped they didn't. It was better that way, to remain innocent at least in some fashion.

Haku's mask cracked and revealed a pretty face. Sakura nearly gaped, but one look at his eyes and any thoughts of jealousy disappeared. Haku already lost her innocence. It was like looking into the future, that was her fate, that empty look.

Shaking she looked for Sasuke, where was he? And Tazuna, she had to protect Tazuna.

Naruto, she noticed, stopped his attack on Haku. Confused if she had to guess. Good, he wouldn't kill her then. Looking at the dome she noticed that it had melted, or did it shatter when Haku lost concentration? It didn't matter, Sasuke... Sasuke was...

She looked at Tazuna, eyes wide, wordlessly begging him. He nodded and she was off.

Skidding she reached Sasuke's side. "Please be alright, please be alright..." she muttered, as a trembling hand searched for any sign of life.

She found nothing. Again, her hand searched, for a pulse, for breath.

Again she didn't find anything.

She checked again, faster this time. Her hand almost ripped one of the senbon loose. Still, she found nothing.

She noticed some water on Sasuke's face, odd had it started raining? Oh just her own tears, silly really. The dead didn't need tears, they didn't care. And for the living tears were useless as well, just a distraction. But maybe... maybe she needed this, it was her own fault after all.

Because she refused to do what was necessary. She knew she could have done something, she had carefully looked at it all. Analyzed a thousand different battles, knew the weaknesses of most ninjutsu users, genjustsu users even taijutsu was an open book to her. But she refused to use that information.

They were genin! They weren't supposed to kill. Not yet. Not on their first real mission. They were supposed to not suffer that kind of mental trauma yet.

Wallowing in self pity she barely noticed what was going on around her. Haku was on the ground, Zabusa wasn't looking good either, so thy won. And it only cost them a teammate.

She barely managed to turn the laughter that threatened to escape into a sob, it wouldn't do to have her team, what was left of it, think she found this funny. Even if she did, on some weird level.

More people, and they wanted to fight. Wanted to kill. Looking at Sasuke's face she couldn't help it, she smiled. So that was it then? This was how she would...

Zabusa said something to Naruto, she couldn't make it out, over the pounding of her heart. Naruto threw him a kunai, what the hell? He was the reason Sasuke was dead! He was the reason she would...

He charged, charged the men who wanted to kill them. She stared in bafflement. What the hell just happened?

Wow watch him tear through them. And with only a kunai. There were worse ways to go she supposed. Watching the head of that little guy, the boss fly was somewhat cathartic, meant she wouldn't have to...

Zabusa dropped, his mission accomplished.

Sadly the rest of the horde didn't take the message. She slowly pushed herself up, away from Sasuke, readying herself.

So, it was time...

Naruto created a horde of shadow clones. Kakashi didn't, he used ordinary ones. Should fool the thugs though. Sakura fingered a little vial she carried around since shortly before they went on this mission. She spend most of her wages on it too. It was comforting, knowing it was there. Even as she hated to think about using it.

Where did that bolt come from? It was just there, sticking from the bridge in front of the bandits. Turning around she saw Inari, behind him his whole village stood, the male half at least. Makeshift weapons in hand, ready to defend their homes.

She barely dared hope, would it be enough?

She looked back, at the thugs. And watched in relive as they broke and ran away. She wouldn't have to...

She could have kissed Inari. Well actually she was willing to do nearly everything he asked, but he didn't need to know that, and she kinda doubted he would ask even if he did.

Still this battle wasn't without loss. She stumbled back to Sasuke, and fell to her knees again, cradling him.

She couldn't stop herself, no matter how much she wanted to. Out of the corner of her eyes she could see Naruto, looking as if he wanted to cry too, as he watched her, but he didn't come closer. Probably guilty, the idiot. Didn't he know that this was what they signed up for? A quick death on the battlefield?

Granted, she had hoped to go on easy mission for a while first. But really it was a... she felt a twitch from the corpse she was holding.

She stopped moving, she stopped crying, she stopped breathing. There! Another twitch. And a groan.

Haku! He could fake Zabusa's death, he could do the same for Sasuke.

She sobbed again, relive filling her heart.

"Sakura," Sasuke coughed, "You are heavy."

She laughed at that, laughed and cried, and if her relief was mostly for her own innocence, for her own hearth? Well nobody needed to know that.

--o--

This had to be a joke, Sakura thought. She didn't know whether to laugh or cry, a situation she had become sadly familiar with lately.

First they were up against Orochimaru, one of the freaking Sannin! That obviously didn't go well at all.

And now these three sound genin had shown up. Rambling about how they would kill Sasuke or some such.

She knew she shouldn't have agreed to enter the exams. What about her year of easing into ninja life? What about not having to kill anybody?

She eyed the three warily, for now they seemed content to taunt her, rambling on how weak she was.

Though they did slowly edge closer.

"Wha- what do yo..." She hiccuped, to look strong now would be the worst mistake she could make. She needed them close. Tears were running down her face she noted. Curiously she didn't feel afraid. Hmm actually she didn't feel anger either, or excitement. No nervousness, no shaking, besides what she forced her limbs to do. Still, she cried... and she had no idea why exactly.

One of them laughed. "We already said that didn't we? We are here to kill Sasuke. If we get to kill you and the other brat as well... hey bonus."

Huh, nice lead in, she had been afraid she would have to come up with some spiel about offering herself for Sasuke... that probably wouldn't have gone over too easy.

"Wha- wha-what? No!" She screamed, voice wavering and shrill. "Please, please! I..." she paused, seeking the eyes of the boys. "I... I'll do anything." She almost whispered. "Just please don't kill me."

The boys looked at each other, an ugly grin spread on their face. The girl rolled her eyes. "We don't have time for this." She muttered, even as a cruel grin did steal on her face.

"Aww why not? Not as if he will wake up anytime soon, if at all." The other boy said, leering at Sakura. Who sniffled, sobs wracking her body.

"Hehe, if you really mean it then strip already!" He commanded.

Sakura stared at him, eyes growing wide in what she hoped would be interpreted as terror.

She always had been good at faking her expressions. Well after she found out about the importance of hiding your emotions at least.

Some said not feeling anything was the most important skill a ninja could have. Sakura found that hiding your emotions, and suppressing them, to deal with later worked much better.

And in school, not calling your teacher an idiot, because he just didn't have any idea what kind of bullshit he told them... well that skill she found invaluable.

"Wha? Strip?" She stuttered, forcing her whole body to shake.

The first boy sighed. "She's useless even at being a whore." he sneered. "Yes strip, remove your clothes." He stepped directly in front of her and punched her, hard.

Sakura fell over, stars appearing in front of her vision. She couldn't let them hit her too often, she wouldn't be able to... better not think about it, she could feel her emotions surge to the top just thinking about it.

She had to suppress it all, until she had finished this.

"Yes..." She mumbled, as she struggled feebly with her clothes, pausing a few seconds when her trembling fingers reached her belt.

She noticed that the other boy also had stepped close to her. The girl watched them, a sadistic grin on her face. However, she didn't come closer. Instead she watched the surrounding area. Not that Sakura had suspected her to be interested in... that.

"Man her tits are tiny." One of them complained, as he began to grope her.

She closed her eyes, this was it then, she took a deep breath.

She could hear the other one shrug, as he ripped her top off. "Eh we are just gonna have some fun with her, we aren't gonna marry her or anything."

Sakura shuddered, as she felt their hands roaming over her body. Her own hand slid down slightly.

What was going to happen was painful. Painful and yet... exiting.

She exhaled, opened her eyes and looked at her rapists.

--o--

Sakura tended to the fire in front of her. Staring into the flames without moving a muscle. She had washed off most of the blood. There hadn't been much. Barely anything really. Most of it came from the girl's, involvement. The other fluids came from the boys... quite disgusting really, and much harder to wash off.

Getting the stink out had been the hardest problem. Mending her clothes had been far easier. Even if the result hadn't been perfect.

She didn't sigh, it wouldn't help. She had removed any evidence she found, she hadn't felt anything doing it. Some small part of her hoped that would change. Some part of her hoped it wouldn't. She didn't know which part to root for.

Empty eyes stared into the fire, what disgusted her the most was her own excitement, the exhilaration, the pure euphoria, the... pleasure.

Was that really her? Did she really enjoy herself that much? Doing that? She didn't shudder, even though she wanted to. She just couldn't.

Indifferently she poked the fire.

Behind her somebody groaned.

She turned around and watched as Naruto slowly pushed himself up, impressive, the drug she gave him should have kept him out for around an hour longer. But that was Naruto for you. Energy through the roof and all.

She ladled some stew from the pot over the fire into a bowl and handed it to Naruto.

"Here." She said, in a monotone, "You've been out for a while, you need some food."

Naruto blinked and looked around. "Huh? Where are we?" He asked, accepting the bowl.

She shrugged. We were attacked by some weird genin from grass, don't you remember?"

He nodded, as he ate the stew. "Hmm yeah, he did something weird to..." He paused, as he looked at his stomach. "Well he did something weird to me. And... and he bit Sasuke! Gross."

Sakura nodded, as she turned back to the fire.

Naruto sat down next to her. "Where is the bastard anyways?" He asked.

She shrugged and pointed back into the direction from where he came. "He's still out of it. Whatever the freak did to him, it knocked him out good." Though she was pretty sure, that what kept Sasuke down at the moment was the sleeping drug she administered earlier.

She really didn't want them to know what had happened. And them watching her clean up her mess would have led to awkward questions.

Naruto grinned nastily. "Ha! See I'm already up and he's still out of it. So who's the better ninja?"

Sakura nodded absently. "If you say so Naruto." She said.

Naruto blinked, and looked at her. "Err did you just agree with me Sakura?"

She didn't bother looking at him. "No, that was sarcasm." She stated flatly.

"Oh..." He muttered, then continued to eat his rabid and ground soldier pill, stew. Nothing better to get the sleeping drug out of your system really.

Naruto was through his third bowl before Sasuke stirred. He didn't groan, he had trained too much to make that mistake. He might have noticed the drugs as well. However chances were he would blame it on Orochimaru, so Sakura didn't worry much about it.

He stumbled to them, staring at the fire. "We shouldn't have a fire burning." He croaked, staring at Sakura as if she were stupid.

She looked at him, raising an eyebrow. "We are in a cave, I've hidden the entrance. Nobody will see the fire. If somebody does come in their vision will be hindered more by the fire than ours by the night." She explained, then handed him a bowl of rabid, pill stew.

Sasuke nodded and accepted the bowl. Hungrily he scarfed down the food, faster even than Naruto.

Sakura just continued to stare into the fire. Though she did notice that his face twitched every now and again. Probably pain from the weird seal. It pulsed in time with the twitches.

"What happened to your shirt?" He asked suddenly. Naruto looked up from his meal as well.

She looked at the mended tear in the shirt. "It got torn while I was hunting the rabid for the stew." She answered.

Sasuke sneered, but returned to his food. Such a caring teammate he was.

Naruto shrugged and did the same, oblivious as always.

She sighed. "We should hurry and get to the tower. You have been out for most of the day."

Twin shouts of "What? A day!" Came from the two of them.

She lifted an eyebrow. "Yes a day. We have two days left, luckily I got a heaven scroll from Lee, so we only need to get a new earth scroll."

"Wow you are awesome Sakura!" Naruto shouted.

Her eyes flickered to the entrance, she didn't know whether she hoped somebody would come in so they could take their scroll or not.

Sasuke grunted something that might be confirming Naruto's general opinion, probably just a grunt for more stew though.

She filled his bowl again.

"It shouldn't be too hard to get another scroll." Naruto muttered.

She nodded. Hopefully it wouldn't be too hard... or maybe it should be harder, she rubbed the bruise on her stomach, where one of the sound genin had hit her. It had been too easy that last time. Wasn't it supposed to be hard, your first time?

--o--

Kabuto stopped in the clearing. Somewhere around here Sasuke should be hidden. And somewhere around here Orochimaru's toys would have come upon team 7.

He noticed something sparkle on the ground. He frowned worriedly. He should have felt a powerful chakra spike, as soon as Sasuke entered the fight. But he had felt nothing, no brief spike and certainly no long one, indicating a drawn out battle. Hopefully the Uchiha hadn't died.

Waking up to his teammates in danger should have overwhelmed his mental defenses, what little remained of them and make him pull on the power the seal provided.

He touched the ground close to the sparkle. Hmm, it appeared he found the team from sound.

Neatly stacked side by side, hurriedly hidden beneath a pile of leaves. Only one a tiny sliver of a forehead protector remained uncovered. Maybe the wind?

Whoever did it probably didn't care much about somebody finding them, as long as nobody found them immediately.

He studied the corpses for a second. The boys were obviously poisoned, their exposed skin a sickly blue color, clothes stained with vomit. And only a shallow scratch as far as wounds went.

The girl, now she might have tried to fight back, though not for long, judging by the wounds in her legs and arms. Probably shocked to see her teammates die like that. The assailant disabled her ability to move and then slit her throat. The entire battle couldn't have lasted more than a minute.

They went down hard and fast. Probably lured close to the attacker somehow. A quick examination confirmed his suspicions. Close to the corpses somebody had dug a little ditch in the ground. He could smell vomit, but no blood. There were no signs of a struggle either. A bit farther away he found where Kin went down. The ground had been scuffed a bit, and here and there he could still smell bit of blood.

He frowned.

That meant Sasuke hadn't been tested, if he had activated the cursed seal, the clearing would be covered over and over with blood.

That of course left the question of who. Who had taken out the team? Maybe a grass genin? They were famous for their use of poison. One of the few villages who actually taught their genin to make them.

But, he looked closer at Kin's wounds and pulled out his kunai.

Glancing at her wounds and the kunai, the connection came easy.

The wounds had been made by a Konoha kunai. And really, only one ninja from Konoha would have a reason and the means to attack the sound team with deadly force.

He searched the clearing again, looking for a trail to follow.

Sakura Haruno had suddenly become interesting. He grinned from ear to ear. He might just have to revise his info cards.

--o--

Hey, I went over this and fixed a few things here and there. Hope that has improved the beginning a bit.


	2. New Approach, old Approach

Expectations of Development

--o--

Chapter 2: New Approach, old Approach

--o--

Sakura slowly made her way into the tower. Sasuke and Naruto following her, a few feet behind.

She had noticed the two of them giving her odd glances every now and again. To be expected she supposed, when you stopped following and started handing out orders.

Though Sasuke surprised her, by actually following them. Then again, he could recognize a good plan, no matter who came up with it.

Opening the doors to the tower the three genin stepped in. The area was empty, just a wall-hanging with some sort of text on it.

Sakura felt some relive, that getting the second scroll had gone as smoothly as it had. Naruto and Sasuke had worked together beautifully. Naruto giving Sasuke an opportunity to sneak up on the enemy, by swamping them with shadow-clones, which the other boy had used admiringly.

A quick jump into their back had taken one of them out.

And while the other two had noticed him. Sakura smirked ever so slightly. They hadn't paid any attention to her, which allowed her to take out the one closest to her.

And once he went down the last man, well girl, surrendered. They got a scroll and lucky them, the one they needed and proceeded to the tower. Pleasantly easy for once.

She focused on the wall-hanging.

"Without Heaven..." it was some sort of riddle...

"What are we supposed to do now?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke shrugged. "Open the scrolls?"

Sakura nodded and pulled them out. "Well, not much else to do, I suppose."

A quick flick of her wrist opened the two scrolls, revealing some sort of seal.

"Hmm, that's..." She started to say, before aloud bang and a lot of smoke interrupted her.

"Congratulations you three." Iruka said, through the dissipating smoke.

"Ahh Iruka-Sensei!" Naruto shouted, a huge grin plastered on his face. "We made it through the second part! We are soo gonna become chunin."

Iruka smiled at Naruto's exuberance, though Sasuke groaned slightly. Sakura didn't move a muscle, let Naruto have his fun, it would be good for morale.

She noticed that Iruka looked at her with a frown.

"Is everything all right Sakura?" He asked and both Naruto and Sasuke looked at her. Their worry from before showing again.

"Not really." She answered easily. "We were attacked by an S-Class missing nin, who did something weird to Sasuke." She paused for a second, "And to Naruto. But I can't see anything different on Naruto, so it was probably only a temporary effect." She shrugged nonchalantly.

Iruka stood there, rather pale she noticed. Perfectly understandable of course, if she had been in his position... well, she would probably have been able to control herself better. Maybe.

"W-what?" He stammered.

"I belief the missing nin was Orochimaru. If I'm not totally wrong he was after the sharingan." She continued, expertly ignoring Sasuke's annoyed frown. She would rather not keep this quite. Who knew what would happen if they didn't do something.

Naruto shivered a bit, probably remembering their encounter. Sakura wondered at her own lack of reaction. She should be terrified, she didn't stand a chance in hell against an opponent like that.

And yet, she didn't feel the slightest bit afraid. All her fear seemed... bunched up, thrown into a box and hidden in the deepest reaches of her mind. Right besides whatever feelings of guilt she might have had.

"Yeah that guy was freaky." Naruto mumbled.

Sasuke huffed in annoyance, glaring at her.

"He also offered Sasuke to make him stronger. A thin ploy to get Sasuke to come with him out of his own will." She frowned. "Though why he didn't just take Sasuke with him right then is beyond me. Might have something to do with the seal though. Sasuke was unconscious for about a day."

Iruka stood there, shaking slightly. Going by his growl, he would love to get his hands on Orochimaru and wring his far too pretty neck... yay another disturbing thought added to her newly formed collection. If she didn't feel nothing at the moment... maybe shock, she would be pucking her guts out.

"I told them that you weren't ready. That this was too dangerous." He muttered, his fists clenched and unclenched rhythmically. Well maybe not Orochimaru's neck then.

Sakura narrowed her eyes. "You should have been more forceful." She muttered to herself.

Though obviously both Naruto and Iruka heard her.

"Hey we were ready! We made it here didn't we?" Naruto nearly shouted. Sasuke nodding in agreement.

Iruka sighed, but nodded slowly. "I suppose." He gave Sakura a questioning look though.

She rolled her eyes, they might be able to finish the exam, that didn't mean they were ready. She hadn't been, that was for certain.

"We need to let the Hokage know about this." Iruka continued. "But the exam isn't finished until tomorrow. So you'll need to stay in the tower for now. I'll have somebody look at that seal Sasuke."

Sasuke nodded, even if he made it clear how unnecessary he thought that to be.

"Can we go anywhere in the tower?" Sakura asked.

"Only in the areas designated for genin, but they should have enough room and equipment to entertain yourself." Iruka smiled at her. "The tower also has a library. It's not big, but they have some interesting books."

His smile fell, when Sakura didn't react beyond a curt nod.

"That's good." she said.

"Well, I'll inform the Hokage." Iruka continued, choosing to ignore Sakura for now. He turned to Naruto. "And you did good Naruto, congratulations."

"Of course. I'm gonna be hokage soon!" The blond shouted.

With a last grin, for Naruto, Iruka disappeared.

"Well, now what?" Naruto asked his teammates.

Sasuke shrugged. "We wait?"

Sakura walked to a door in the back. "I'm going to try and get some food. And some rest. Not all of us got to sleep all day."

--o--

Sasuke walked aimlessly though the tower. He had been useless against Orochimaru. Naruto of all people had to slap some sense into him. Well beat some sense into him. Still it didn't change the outcome. Orochimaru crushed them easily and without any trouble at all.

If he had been stronger...

He didn't pay any attention to where his feet led him, his thoughts chasing themselves in circles. He did however notice the hand, that snatched him into a side corridor and slammed him against the wall there.

He also noticed the kunai held dangerously close to his throat.

"Hey." Sakura greeted him, her face mostly blank. Kinda like it had been since he woke up in the forest. He really didn't like that face.

He glanced down at the kunai. And back at her face. Really, really didn't like it.

And she was awfully close to him, almost rubbing herself against him, restricting his movement. Not that he would tell her to stop. Whatever the crazy girl wanted, as long as she held that kunai at his throat, he wouldn't say anything against her at all. Afterward, all bets were off obviously.

"Hnn." He grunted, hopefully she would let him go soon, he had better things to do. Safer things too.

"You know?" She said. "I didn't tell Iruka everything." She looked at him, face still mostly blank. Though he could detect the slightest frown there.

"You told him enough already." He muttered. Twenty minutes after they arrived in the tower, Kakashi had shown up and dragged him away.

He had spend several hours to apply a counter seal to the weird one Orochimaru placed on him. Not that Sasuke minded, the thing had been pretty useless anyway.

He had no idea what Orochimaru had meant with more power, he didn't feel more powerful, in fact, right here right now? He felt considerably weaker. Though maybe he should consider researching how to surprise Itachi, it seemed to work well enough for Sakura.

She narrowed her eyes. "Whatever the freak did to you it couldn't be good, so stop complaining about it." She increased the pressure on his throat ever so slightly. "But this isn't about what Orochimaru did. It's about what I did while you were out." She narrowed her eyes at him.

Huh? What would she have done? Made sure they didn't die, applied first aid, fed them. The usual stuff when comrades were hurt. Though, considering their position, she might have done a bit more than that... and he refused to even consider that thought!

"What did you do?" He asked instead, doing his best to ignore her kunai.

"We were attacked. I managed to defeat them. Wasn't easy though." She explained. For a second he thought, he saw something in her eyes... but it before he could identify it it had disappeared again.

Hmm not bad, not bad at all, he might just start to respect her a bit more. Wait a minute. "You got the scroll from them, not from Lee right?"

She nodded, again only showing the slightest smile. "Yes. And before you ask, you didn't need to worry about it. And Naruto certainly didn't need to make a fuss about me."

He supposed she was right about that, still left one more question.

"You still haven't explained why I'm pressed against a wall though." He said, as deadpan as the situation allowed.

"With a kunai at your throat?" She asked, a trace of amusement entering her voice.

He nodded, or at least tried to, the kunai made him reconsider the movement.

"Yes, with a kunai at my throat."

"Simple, it seems threats and insults catch your attention faster, than being nice and supportive." A slight shrug moved the kunai slightly. He thought she had drawn blood there. Could just be nervous sweat though.

He gulped, carefully. "You have my attention."

This time there she did smirk and that one he had no problem seeing.

"And we are even having a decent conversation. Imagine that."

It wasn't his fault she had nothing interesting or important to say. Not that he would mention that to her. No matter what some people might say about him, he had that much survival instinct.

"Yes. Still what do you want?" He didn't need to be held up any longer than strictly necessary.

"A reward, for protecting you in the forest." She answered, expression once again empty.

And damn, that was annoying and disturbing. She should be smiling, maybe natter about fashion or something. Not stare at him blankly demanding rewards.

"A reward? You were protecting your teammates. That's supposed to be normal." He growled.

She raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Me fighting against three enemy genin. And more importantly winning. Is to be expected?"

"Huh? Three? They must have sucked." Wait. Did he say that out loud?

Judging by the sudden pain and his new found difficulties breathing, yes he did. Man Sakura could be scary when she wanted to be.

"Err I mean, beating three opponents alone would be difficult even for me, so they must not have been up to your standards?" He corrected himself hastily.

The kunai receded, somewhat. And this time she definitely had drawn blood.

But the most disturbing thing, during her little fit, had been her face. It had changed so little.

Usually she carried her emotions for all the world to see. Since the forest, no since the fight with Orochimaru, she hardly showed any.

"So, what do you want?" He asked, the faster he got this over with, the faster the kunai would disappear and he could be on his way. As far away from her as possible. She scared him.

She narrowed her eyes, slightly. "A kiss."

"A kiss?" He asked in disbelieve.

An almost imperceptible nod. "Yes, a kiss."

The kunai at his throat suddenly developed all kinds of uncomfortable connotations. And the thought from before returned with full force.

"With a kunai at my throat?" He ground out, not squeaked, he didn't squeak.

Her eyes flickered to the kunai. "No, the kunai is there to get you to talk."

"And to control what I say?" He snorted.

"To a degree. But mostly because I've tried to be nice. Didn't work. Now I'm trying violence on you. It seems to get results." She explained.

He blinked, what did she think would happen if she fought him? That he would suddenly go on dates with her?

Though he had to admit, in the last few seconds his image of her had change from useless lump of flesh, a nice and occasional informative one sure, to a dangerous and deadly... not foe, but at least... he didn't know.

But, he was forced to agree, she had just made herself actually interesting.

"I see." He inclined his head slightly. "So if I don't give you a kiss..."

"Nothing happens, I remove the kunai, we both go on our merry way." Her flat tone didn't fill him with confidence.

"If it helps, consider it training." She said. "If you want to rebuild your clan, you'll need to know how to kiss at some point."

He couldn't help the slight blush that sprang up at that. He had never thought about that aspects of his plans. Itachi always came first, rebuilding his clan...

"We don't have forever you know? Every mission we go on can be the one we die." She continued. "We don't have the luxury to wait forever. The forest taught me that at least."

He frowned, what did she mean with that last one? Not that it mattered. But she was right. He didn't know what would, what could happen. What if he killed Itachi, but afterward somebody else came along and killed him? He almost snorted, that would be embarrassing. And his clan would disappear forever.

"Fine. One kiss." He glared at her. "It doesn't mean anything though. It's just a reward for protecting us against enemies you couldn't be expected to fight alone." And win, though again, he wouldn't be foolish enough to say that out loud.

The kunai vanished, he didn't even notice her tucking it in. His hand went to his throat. He examined it and stared at Sakura. She had drawn blood. And still stared at him with that impassive face.

She lifted an eyebrow. "Well?"

Rolling his eyes he leaned forward. She leaned forward as well, their mouths touching briefly.

Then he leaned back again and looked down. "There, a kiss." He muttered.

Damn this was embarrassing, his entire face was red, he just knew it. Looking at her though, he noticed that she didn't blush, she just looked at him. And sighed.

"Ah well, I suppose you can't be good at everything. Hmm wonder if Naruto is a better kisser?" She turned around. "He did do better against Orochimaru..."

His hand snapped out almost without him noticing. He grabbed her arm, pulled her back and slammed her against the wall. He growled, Naruto better than him? Naruto doing better against Orochimaru? The Idiot might have improved, a lot even.

If he was honest, he had improved far beyond most of their classmates, as far as Sasuke was concerned. But better than him? The dead last?

He pressed Sakura against the wall and kissed her, hard. She opened her mouth, accepting his tongue almost eagerly and they dueled for a few seconds, before he realized what she had done.

He pulled back as if he had been burned. "You!" He squeaked.

She smiled, the first real smile he had seen from her all since the forest. "Better, much better." She practically purred.

"You tricked me." He growled.

She shrugged, and pushed past him. "So I did. You really need to get that ego of yours under control then, don't you?" She causally strolled away.

He stood there, just staring at the wall, for a long time. Damn, but she was right. If he had just ignored the dig...

Well, at least the kiss felt kind of nice. And he had kissed a girl. Which meant the kiss with Naruto had never happened. Right? Right.

Could be worse he supposed.

--o--

Sakura looked down into the arena. The day had started well enough, just lounging around the tower, reading in the library, sorting her newest equipment.

Mostly she had studied her newly acquired ninja wire, once she got some training it should be quite useful. If she could master it.

Then she had cornered Sasuke and tricked him into kissing her. Nice and easy that.

Really, in retrospective it had been blindingly obvious that he wouldn't respond to a sweet and innocent girl. His focus lay on killing whoever and that meant on being a ninja.

Sweet and innocent... well, the only place they had in that lifestyle, belonged to the categories of bait and target.

Still, trying to catch his attention that way had been, not fun, not exactly. But there had been a certain flair to it. Also, it didn't imply certain things about her. Though now he did consider her something more than an overconfident cheerleader.

Not much more certainly, not yet at least, but more.

Still, it had been so easy. So easy to stop thinking, to stop feeling. Then. Now? She had to fight it down, every second she had nothing to do she thought back. Saw the shock on their faces...

She looked down, into the arena. The first match, Shikamaru vs. Hinata.

She sighed, as she watched Shikamaru easily trap Hinata in his shadow. Poor girl, against him her family style turned out to be utterly useless. Her dependence on close combat allowed him to drive her around the arena, never letting her close in for a hit or even an attempt.

Even if she had managed to avoid his shadow for a few minutes, in the end she just couldn't do anything. And the arena didn't give her the room to maneuver around him effectively.

Which meant she lost, without landing a single hit on him.

"Winner Shikamaru!" The guy with the cough announced, as Shikamaru and Hinata made their way out of the arena. Hinata slouching in depression, Shikamaru just slouching.

"Next up, Sakura and Temari."

Sakura looked at the girl from Suna. Temari hadn't paid much attention to Sakura and Sakura hadn't to her. Which meant that they were both unknown to each other. Temari snorted and jumped into the arena. Disdain written all over her face.

"Just watch Sasuke!" Sakura shouted, her voice slightly shrill. "I'll win this fight and proof that I'm worthy of you!" She smiled widely and stupidly. Even up on the stands she could hear Temari's snort.

Watching Sasuke's face she nearly laughed out loud. His confusion at the sudden return, of what he probably dubbed annoying fangirl mode, was just too amusing.

She hopped down into the arena and smirked at Temari. Had it always been this hard to smile?

"I'll beat you, for Sasuke!" She said confidently, even while she faked the slightest tremble.

Temari just shook her head. "A silly little thing like you? Not in your dreams." She pulled her fan out.

This would hurt, a lot. Sakura had no doubt about it. She could probably end it fairly fast, if she were willing to kill Temari. But that wouldn't be necessary, this wasn't a fight for live or death. And she had no desire to make it one. Which meant she would have to do this slow and painful.

"Are you ready?" The judge asked.

Both girls nodded.

"Then begin!"

Temari immediately jumped back, her battle fan held ready. A confident smirk gracing her features.

"Come on, you think you can take me? Then show me!" She taunted.

Sakura growled in disgust. She had to somehow bypass the fan. Which would proof more than difficult. Unless of course, she somehow managed to make Temari ignore her fan.

"Oh I will! For Sasuke!" She screamed, pulled out a kunai and charged the other girl head on.

Sasuke, she noticed, looked at her as if she had gone crazy, most of the Konoha shinobi looked uncomfortable as well, probably embarrassed. Though Kakashi didn't, he frowned, though he hadn't stopped frowning at her since she came out of the forest.

And suddenly a solid wall of wind stopped her thoughts, ripped the kunai from her hands and threw her across the entire arena, into the wall at the other end.

She felt some of her ribs creak in protest. And stayed down, this might be her only opportunity to slip in a soldier pill, without Temari noticing.

Groaning and coughing, she rolled over and pushed herself up. With her back turned she quickly ate the pill. Hopefully it would keep her going, even with heavy internal bruising.

"Honestly? That was just horribly embarrassing. You are giving kunoichi all over the world a bad name." Temari shook her head. "Just give up and save both of us the trouble."

"Never!" Sakura shouted. Gods, the next few words she had to say, would be almost as painful as the beating she was about to get. "I'll never give up! For Sasuke-kun!" Maybe even more painful than the beating.

She rushed Temari again. Same reaction from the crowd, though Lee was looking very disappointed. Kakashi however, he smiled, though he kept it well hidden. She wondered if he would be smiling if her little ploy failed. Well, nothing ven...

She groaned, as her vision returned. This time the bitch had actually knocked her out for a few seconds.

Damn that girl packed a punch. If she hadn't been choke full of adrenalin and various drugs, she would have stayed down for much longer than the few seconds she had been out now.

She painfully pulled herself up on the wall. If she took another soldier pill the increased chakra might well show, not to mention the almost certain overdose...

But if she didn't take the pill she might as well give up now, since she had no doubt she would simply fall over.

She coughed, a sharp pain shooting through her torso. Somewhere in the background she could hear Naruto scream something encouraging, the ringing in her ears made it difficult to understand.

Quickly she took the second soldier pill, hopefully the damage and her concussion would conceal her drugged up state.

Temari said something, her expression had changed. Disgust had been replaced by pity.

Sakura pushed herself from the wall, wobbling slightly.

Dazed, she watched the world swim out of focus and she hurt. Not just her chest, but also her arms, her legs, her head. Nothing felt like it should.

Slowly she staggered towards Temari. Who strolled towards Sakura, shacking her head the entire way. Sakura fumbled for a new kunai, her motions slow,with shaking hands.

Temari looked at her. "Just give up. I'll admit you can take a beating, but it takes more than that, to be a chunin."

Sakura grinned at her, or at least tried to grin, it came out as a grimace. She could taste blood too.

"Nevr." She slurred. "I'll win, for Suske."

Temari rolled her eyes, deflected a sloppy stab and punched Sakura in the stomach.

Sakura folded, as her vision turned black again. Curiously it didn't hurt, well, hurt more. She was at her limit, she knew, if Temari...

Somebody hoisted her up by her dress. She found herself face to face with Temari, who easily held her.

She had slung her fan over her shoulder again, instead she reared back her fist.

"Last chance little girl." Temari muttered, to the weakly struggling Sakura, as she grabbed the arm holding her. "Give up, or I'll really put a dent into that pretty face of..."

She stopped talking, as Sakura's grip hardened and her other hand shot forward. Temari tried to jump back, but Sakura held her in place, landing a solid hit on Temari's stomach.

Gasping Temari looked at Sakura with wide eyes, the beginnings of a scream on her lips.

Sakura twisted her fist and Temari gasped again.

Sakura could see blood slowly running down her fist.

Catching Temari's gaze with her own, Sakura whispered. "I'm a ninja, did you honestly expect me to show you the truth?"

Sakura pulled the kunai up and out, while she took a step back. Temari's blood, a small trickle up till then, splashed onto the ground in a thick stream.

"No killing, huh?" Sakura thought, swinging the kunai above her head.

"Fuck that, I need to win." She drove the knife down again, aiming for Temari's chest. She couldn't allow the other girl a chance to pull herself together.

Her arm hit something hard and stopped, before she could finish Temari off.

Blearily she looked up. A hand, had stopped her arm from completing that swing.

She looked at Temari again, who did her best to staunch the blood flow. But it appeared she had lost that battle, as she slowly, ever so slowly toppled over. Someone screamed for a medic.

Sakura ignored everything going on around her and turned to the referee. "Did I win?"

He nodded, but he still frowned at her. "You did, though that was a bit excessive wasn't it?" He whispered, or asked? His voice seemed so quite.

"Soldier-pill overdose." She replied as darkness slowly spread across her vision.

This had been kinda fun. Betting everything on that one card and pulling it off.

That moment, before you knew whether your gamble paid off, if you made a mistake, if the enemy hadn't made the mistake you hoped for.

Or if she just was that much better than you. It had been exhilarating.

Hopefully she wouldn't get addicted, to it.

Falling backwards, she noticed Naruto and Kakashi. Even Sasuke had appeared from somewhere.

But they were so far away. And none of them smiled...


	3. Wake up Call

Expectations of Development

--o--

Wake up Call

--o--

Conscience slowly returned to her. Thankfully pain didn't.

She snuggled into the bed. Savoring the warmth, and her last chance to rest in ignorance.

Somewhere in the room somebody giggled quietly. She cracked an eye open, and saw Kakashi, reading his little book.

So much for some peace and quite.

"Morning." She muttered grumpily.

With a snap Kakashi closed the book. "Well, it's actually evening, but I suppose you wouldn't know that."

Sitting up she looked at him, eyebrow raised. "I suppose so." She studied him for a second. "Am I supposed to think you were sitting there watching me the entire time?"

Kakashi seemed to recoil in horror. The utter hurt on his face, however was a bit too much to believe. "What? Do you think, I, would let one of my cute genin all alone in the hospital?" He asked, faking hurt.

"Yes?" She countered.

He seemed to deflate, but only for a second. "Well I am quite busy." He conceded. "But no, I wouldn't, I had Naruto and Sasuke keep an eye on you." His face scrunched up. "Though I was surprised to see that Sasuke had no problem with visiting you either... not even slight protest..." He watched her curiously.

Sakura for her part sat there, shock apparent on her face, before she burst out into wild laughter.

"That's it?" She wheezed, "I hold a kunai at his throat and suddenly I'm interesting?" She fought to keep control.

"Kunai at his throat?" Kakashi asked, with narrowed eye.

She shrugged. "Well, you know how Naruto and Sasuke are always fighting? And how he's more interested in Naruto than me?" She asked.

Kakashi slowly nodded, his own smile returning.

"I decided to change my approach. If nice doesn't work, but violence does?" She continued. "Well then I'll have to go with violence obviously."

Kakashi nodded and grabbed her shoulder. "You are probably right about that. In fact," he got out his little book and frantically flipped through it. "I think there's something about that in here..."

Sakura shrugged his hand of, fighting the giggle that threatened to escape her. "I don't think I need dating advice from one of your books sensei." She muttered.

Kakashi smiled and nodded. "I suppose not. I'm also glad that you seem to have returned to normal." He watched her carefully, she noticed.

Normal? What did he? Then it came back, the forest, the sound genin, Temari.

And... she quickly bunched that bundle of emotions off and threw it back into the deepest reaches of her mind.

"Or not..." Kakashi muttered, as she emptied her face.

"Did she survive?" She asked.

Kakashi leaned back on his chair. "She did. The medics weren't sure for a while. But since they where right there..." He smiled weakly. "That would have been your first kill wouldn't it?" He finished.

She rolled her eyes. "Subtle sensei, real subtle."

He just shrugged. "You might have let something out in your report to Iruka I take it?"

She took a deep breath. "We were attacked by three sound genin. I assume they were send by Orochimaru."

He looked at her, probably concerned. "You were alone?" He asked quietly.

She lowered her head. "Naruto and Sasuke were unconscious. I had to protect them..." She managed the ghost of a smile. "Before the mission to wave I bought a poison, it was supposed to work pretty quick. I knew that if I got in trouble it would help even the odds." She looked up right into his eye. "It did, I lured them in, being considered a weakling has it's advantages." She tried to chuckle, but she just couldn't muster the humor.

Neither could Kakashi it seemed, he just watched her.

"Anyways, they fell for it. And I got two of them. Once they started vomiting the girl just stopped moving, so I managed to disable and kill her." She took a deep breath and forced, whatever feelings came up, down again.

"I looted the corpses, got some soldier pills and other equipment form them. Then dragged Naruto and Sasuke away from there."

"Why?" Kakashi asked, still watching her.

"Honestly? I don't know. I just... didn't want them to know I suppose." She looked at the ceiling for a second. "Even Sasuke has some innocence left... even with all that has happened to him. I... I suppose I didn't want to take that away already."

Kakashi nodded, but he still frowned slightly. "You tried to protect them. Honestly? I thought you were the one that didn't realize what it means to be a ninja."

She managed a weak smirk. "Because I acted like being with Sasuke was all that's important to me?"

He looked away slightly.

"If you had the chance, would you have preferred not to fight? Not to kill? To have a childhood a little bit longer?" She asked him.

"Heh. Supposed that's a good point." He conceded. "So you played the little girl..."

"No." She interrupted him. "I am, was, that little girl. That's who I am, who I want to be. But that's not who I need to be. A ninja can't afford to be that innocent. And like it or not, I am a ninja." sighing she leaned back.

Kakashi studied her for a few seconds. "I suppose you are right about that. Good fight by the way. Well not so much a fight, as a fake out. Though the finish was a tad... harsh?"

She nodded. "I know, but I was on my last leg by that point, that didn't leave me much choice."

"Yes, I noticed that you were gambling quite a bit there. If she had taken you just a bit more serious... if she had been just a bit faster..." He looked at her, his visible eye managing to convey concern.

"I know, I know..." She waved him away, though she worried about it as well. Hopefully she could control herself better next time, gambling like that always had a price.

"So, what now?" She finally asked.

"Well, my entire team made it to the finals. No other team managed that. Though I suppose that has more to do with luck than anything else. Naruto went up against Ino, and she wasn't nearly vicious enough to beat him." He gave Sakura a telling look.

"Sasuke went up against some older genin. Never met him, or his teacher. He specialized in chakra absorption. Sasuke was faster though... and just vicious enough, especially after your little display."

Sakura managed to force a blush on her face, a little one.

"When he came back he mumbled something about not getting beaten by you." Kakashi smirked.

She didn't have to force that blush.

"Then TenTen, one of Gai's students, you met her I think, managed to beat her opponent, also never met him. Neji crushed Kankuro, Temari's brother. And Lee beat Choji easily. Gaara, Temari's other brother got a free pass. Honestly I'm kinda glad he did."

She nodded, Gaara, kinda gave her the creeps... wait a second.

"Doesn't that mean that Gai's entire team also made it to the finals?" she asked innocently.

Kakashi coughed, suddenly finding the ceiling very interesting.

"He doesn't count. End of discussions." He muttered.

Probably afraid of all the bragging.

"Anyway." He continued.

"After the prelims were finished the fights for the final where drawn." He paused, and looked at her, his expression serious for once.

"Honestly? I think you should give up."

She raised an eyebrow. "Why? Is Gaara my first opponent? He seemed rather... angry."

Kakashi chuckled weakly. "No, it's not quite that serious. But you will fight Neji. And... no matter how ruthless you are, he is better. Even better than you will be in a month." He said that as if it was immutable fact, she noticed.

She snorted. "I know."

He relaxed. "Don't take this the wrong way Sakura. You are an exceptional kunoichi. One of the strongest in your generation. Especially considering from where you started. But Neji has too many advantages. He's a genius, has a clan to back him up and a bloodline. The deck is incredibly stacked against you. And that isn't taking an entire year of experience into account."

He looked at her. "Naruto, I wouldn't advice against fighting. He's stubborn enough and has... other advantages, I doubt he would win, but he wouldn't..."

"Be crushed utterly?" She asked.

Kakashi had the good grace to look away. "Yes."

She couldn't help it, she had to laugh. "No need to feel ashamed. I didn't exactly throw myself into the physical side of training. I know my limits. I know he's better than me. Much better." She locked her eyes with Kakashi's.

"At the same time. I will fight him. And I will win."

His eye widened. "Wha? But..."

She sniffed. "We are ninja. If I fight him fair I will be crushed. But then, I don't intend to fight fair. I didn't fight fair in the forest. I didn't fight fair against Temari." Her lips twisted. "I intend to cheat as much as possible, to negate as many of his advantages as I possibly can. And I intend to win, not by being ruthless, not by being cruel, or appearing to be weaker than I am."

Shaking her head she continued.

"I'm a ninja. Those are tools. Tools I'll use if I can, and discard if I can't. Temari had one weakness, Neji has another. Once I find his weakness I can exploit it. And he has one glaring weakness, just like you."

She paused for a second, frowning thoughtfully. "You know it's a small miracle nobody ever exploited those weaknesses."

Kakashi sat there, eyebrow raised. "Weakness?" He asked slowly, she could hear the amusement creeping into his voice, but she choose to ignore it.

She nodded. "Your eyes. Target them, disable them and your combat effectiveness is vastly reduced. Far more so than with other ninja who don't rely on their bloodlines as much. Tho I suppose you aren't quite as dependent on your sharingan as the Hyuga on their byankugan."

He considered that for a second. "That's true, I suppose, but how would you target the eyes, you need to be able to hit them first before you can disable them."

She rolled her eyes. "A bright flash should be enough to really hurt them. I wouldn't even need to be close. Afterward I have a few seconds to attack, before he can recover. If I disable his arms and legs then he's helpless and I've won. And that's just my first idea."

He nodded, but shook his head slowly a second later. "A good idea, but why do you think nobody uses that to fight a Hyuga? It should be the obvious tactic."

She frowned, then groaned. "Don't tell me their eyes are protected against sensory overload?"

"Yes, that they are." He grinned slightly. "It would have been a good plan though. And they are blinded for as long as the light is there. But so are you, so it's not as if it's a big advantage. Not nearly enough to beat him I'm afraid."

Sakura looked down. Then at Kakashi again. "Eh I'll think of something else then. But I will fight him." She rolled her eyes at his frown. "Don't worry, I won't quit being a ninja because somebody beat me in the chunin exam. And I won't let him beat me."

Kakashi sighed, but didn't voice any more protests. "If you think you'll be alright, I suppose I can't stop you."

"So who am I up against after I beat Neji?" She asked.

Kakashi perked up again. "Naruto, or Shikamaru. Whoever wins."

Sakura stared at him, before shaking her head. "Shikamaru then... maybe. Naruto could simply power through whatever traps Shikamaru springs on him. Hmm I actually hope it's Shikamaru, easy win that."

"Oh how so?" Kakashi asked.

"I'll just threaten to sick Ino on him for a month if he doesn't give up." She shrugged.

Kakashi blinked. "Err..."

"Naruto would be more difficult... but I suppose I could bribe him with a month of ramen dates." She continued on, with a straight face.

Kakashi rolled his eye, but didn't protest.

"Still, I suppose I should get some training in. I got some ninja wire from that sound kunoichi. Got any idea how to use it?" She asked.

Kakashi frowned thoughtfully. "Hmm I can use them, sure. I'm not very good with them. But I suppose I could teach you."

"Great! Oh, what about Sasuke? Who's his opponent?"

"Sasuke? Oh he's fighting Lee. Quite the battle that could be." Kakashi looked a bit pale at the thought.

"Afraid of what your 'eternal Rival' will do if Lee wins?" Sakura smirked.

"More of what he will say, no matter who wins. And if Sasuke looses, well lets hope I can train him enough."

Sakura nodded, then pushed back her blanket and stood up. She noticed she wore a light hospital gown. "Where are my clothes?"

Kakashi pointed at a closet. "Your parents brought you some." She nodded, and walked over.

She noticed that Kakashi pointedly didn't look at her. She blinked, before realizing that she had stripped half of her clothes off already. She fought the blush down, choosing instead to focus on getting dressed. This wouldn't be the only time she had to be half naked, or naked, in front of a guy she really didn't want to be. Self-control. Damn it, in the forest it had been so easy.

But the longer she went without the fear of dead, the harder it became to control herself like that.

"Focus on something else, makes it easier." She muttered to herself.

So she started talking again, while dressing.

"So, do you know anybody who can use poisons in Konoha? Preferably fast acting ones. Doesn't need to be deadly, can be paralyzing too. In fact I think I would prefer to have that option."

"Hmm. The only one I know that could be called an expert on that field would be Anko. The Anbu use poisons, true. But they can't actually make them. They mostly buy them from merchants or ask for them." He answered.

"The crazy woman, who had a thing for Naruto's blood?" Sakura asked, eyebrow raised.

Kakashi chuckled. "Oh she played a bit with Naruto?"

Sakura smoothed over her dress, and turned to Kakashi. "If you can call that playing, then su..."

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto interrupted her, as he barged into the room, shouting at the top of his lungs. "I heard you were awake!"

"Yes, I am." She said, rather flatly. "And I was just getting dressed. Can't you knock? What if I had been naked?"

Naruto looked at her, then at Kakashi, then back to her. His eyes widened in pure horror.

"Bu... bu... but... Kakashi... same room... getting dressed... pervert!" He stuttered, pointing from one to the other.

Sakura snorted. "He knows, and has enough self-control, to look away. But you leave the door open, so that everybody can look into the room. What is worse?"

"Not as if you have anything, anybody would want to see anyway." Sasuke, who had come after Naruto, sniped.

Sakura moved fast, one step and she stood beside Kakashi. A second later one of Kakashi's kunais tried to hug Sasuke's face. He dodged effortlessly. But he did look at the kunai now embedded in the wall behind him.

"Shut up bastard." Sakura growled angrily. How dare the smug asshole?

Naruto looked from her to Sasuke, then from Sasuke to her. "You know what? I think I'll come back when the world starts making sense again." He muttered and tried to walk out of the room again.

Sakura stopped him though. "No, you stay, or better I'm going with you. We need to start training. You especially. You can't beat Shikamaru with power. And Sasuke has no chance against Lee as he is now." She dragged him out, giving the two males still in the room a last look, indicating that they should follow.

--o--

Kakashi noticed, that Sasuke's eyes seemed to follow the girl with far more interest, than usual. Actually they seemed to show some real interest for the first time.

Kakashi just wondered why Sakura thought training now would be a good idea? H glanced out of the window. He could see the sun sink behind the horizon.

"She's changed hasn't she?" He asked the boy left in the room with him.

The flat look Sasuke graced him with told it all.

"I don't know why? Maybe defeating those guys that were after us made her more confident?" Sasuke finally said.

"Hmm? She defeated some genin in the forest?" Kakashi asked. Did she tell Sasuke?

"Yeah she told me she about it. Didn't want Naruto to know though." Sasuke shifted uncomfortably. "Or you for that matter. Don't know why she wouldn't want to be thought of as more competent, but it's none of my business."

Kakashi shrugged. "I have a pretty good idea why she wouldn't. You should hurry after her though. You do need the training. Lee won't be an easy opponent. And Gaara won't be easy either."

Sasuke grinned. "I'm counting on it."

"Hey! I heard Sakura woke up?" Ino nearly shouted, as she entered the room.

Sasuke winced, as she spotted him. "Sasuke!" Now she did shout, as she tackled him.

"Have you seen Sakura? I was kinda worried about her. I mean she..." Sasuke had been about to tell her to shut up, Kakashi was sure of that, but she had stopped by herself, to look around the room.

"I mean, she really was brutal there, in her fight wasn't she? Totally unnecessary and barbaric. You would never go for a girl like that, right?" She babbled on. Sasuke's only sneered at her.

Kakashi would have groaned. In many ways Sasuke actually had more problems looking underneath the underneath than Naruto. Sadly they didn't have the time to teach the boy about that. Not with the tournament coming up. And Kakashi wouldn't give Gai the satisfaction of Lee winning against Sasuke. If Lee lost it would be bad enough.

"I'm afraid she already left." Kakashi answered simply.

Ino pouted, then giggled. "That means I have Sasuke all to myself."

Before Sasuke could growl an insult, Kakashi had grabbed him and started to drag him away from the girl. "I'm afraid not. He'll have to join the training too. In-fact, we are already late." He smiled and waved her goodbye.

He could tell she didn't buy it, by the fake smile she gave him.

"Tell Sakura to visit me ok? I have to tell her to stay away from Sasuke-kun, she might hurt him otherwise." She winked at Sasuke.

Kakashi nodded amiable. "I will, don't worry."

"Gah, annoying girl." Sasuke muttered as soon as they were out of earshot.

Kakashi looked behind him. "Yeah, I suppose so."

He did wondered though, what Ino knew about his, not so cute anymore, genin.

--o--

Naruto wondered what was wrong with Sakura. Right after the snake freak attacked in the forest she acted different.

Sakura-chan wasn't quite as... energetic anymore. She didn't hit him anymore either. Strange, he should be glad about that. But he wasn't. It honestly had never bothered him, her hitting him. After all, to hit him she had to acknowledge him first.

He smiled weakly. She always did. And not even always by hitting him, sometimes she was nice to him... well ok that was a while ago... and to be fair, she had started being nice to him again shortly after they became genin. He could practically feel the connection. The first few times they had met, he could still remember them.

He was once again alone after school. The orphanage was filled with adults who didn't care, the children didn't want to play with him and the toys he had were boring.

So he wandered around the city, looking for somebody to prank. He didn't have any luck though. After an hour he got hungry, and he went to get some ramen. Sure, the old man always said he should eat more vegetables. But ramen just tasted so much better. Besides, he could buy ten times more ramen, than vegetables, with his pocket money.

Even if his stomach did hurt after a binge like that. It just meant he was full right?

Anyway, that day he had just been guilt-tripped by the old man. And as he stood before the ramen, he also saw the vegetable row. And he couldn't decide, vegetable, like the old man said, or ramen, like his stomach said. His head swiveled from one aisle to the other.

Then he heard the giggle behind him. A little girl, with pink hair stood behind him.

"Hey, what's so funny?" Naruto had asked.

The girl just smiled. "You are!"

"Why?" He demanded. "I can't decide, that's all."

She had cocked her head to the side, making her even cuter. "Why not just buy a bit of both?" She finally said.

And that was how they met. He looked at Sakura, who was studying a length of wire.

They had run across each other a few other times. And Sakura had been nice to him then too. But after a few weeks, she had suddenly become more and more annoyed by him. And he had absolutely no idea why.

He had just asked her to go eat some ramen with him and she had said no. Then he had asked again the next time. She had, again, said no. But she hadn't ignored him, so he continued asking. And she continued saying no. She had become more and more irritated with him over that time. He still hadn't figured out why.

But now, she didn't seem annoyed with him anymore, or at least not as annoyed as she had been, or as often.

He frowned, as he looked at her. Since the forest she actually hadn't been annoyed with him at all.

"Hey Sakura?" He shouted.

"Hmm?" She looked up from the wire. A cute frown on her face.

"Want to go out on a date after training?" He asked, hopefully.

She studied him for a second, then looked at something behind him and smirked. "Sure, I would love to."

He sighed, and hung his head, before he looked up with wide eyes. "Whu? Wha? I mean..." He had been prepared for another rejection, maybe even a punch, though he only got those when he really screwed up anymore. He hadn't been prepared for acceptance?

"Great! I'll train extra hard for you Sakura!" He shouted in glee. Never let it be said he couldn't roll with whatever situation fate threw at him.

Behind him he heard a strange growl. Quickly he jumped forward, turning around in midair. Distancing himself from whatever animal made the sound.

Halfway into the jump, he had pulled a kunai out. But he couldn't see any animal. Only Sasuke, who blinked stupidly at him. Naruto blinked back. Sasuke looked kinda stupid with that confused look on his face.

Kakashi stood behind Sasuke and rolled his visible eye.

"Enough of that for now, ok?" He said.

"Eh, enough of what?" Naruto asked.

Kakashi sighed, Sasuke frowned at Kakashi, and Sakura copying Kakashi, rolled her eyes.

"I agree." Sakura said. "We need to train. I assume you guys started training while I slept of my injuries?"

Naruto shook his head. "No, Kakashi gave us a few days off, to recover from the forest."

Sasuke snorted, looking at him with that superior expression. "You might have relaxed, I on the other hand have trained."

Naruto wanted to say something, to shut the bastard up. He had no idea what he would say, but it would be good. However, Sakura opened her mouth first.

"Well at least Naruto is smart enough to rest when he needs to. That's something at least."

Now Naruto had no doubt anymore. Sakura had been replaced with... somebody, or something. Sasuke realized it too, going by his expression. But Kakashi, he just giggled reading his book. Lazy bastard.

"Anyway, training. You said you would teach me how to use the ninja wire." Sakura said.

Kakashi nodded. "That I did. Ah, Ino came by, while we were leaving. She said she wanted to talk to you."

Weren't Ino and Sakura kinda not speaking to each other because of Sasuke? But Naruto dismissed the thought, he didn't understand girls anyway. And more importantly...

"Hey can you teach me to use these wires too?" He asked.

Kakashi looked at him, thinking.

After a few seconds he finally nodded. "I think I can. However, using them like Sakura probably wants to, requires a good deal of chakra control. Control you don't have. Sasuke has the control, barely. Out of you three... and us four, only Sakura has the level of control necessary to truly excel at using them."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. If Naruto wasn't totally wrong he was angry. Sakura though did something she never did, when she could do something better than Sasuke, she preened.

"So it seems the great Uchiha needs to catch up. If he even can."

And apparently taunted him.

Naruto wanted to scream. Couldn't anybody see that something was wrong with her? Or if they could see it do something about it? Sasuke could see it, but he just stood there, gaping. Kakashi nodded cheerfully. "You are absolutely right about that." And took her weird behavior in stride.

"Arrrg!" He finally shouted himself, drawing all eyes back to him. "What is wrong with you Sakura-chan?" He asked, pointing at her. "And with you Sensei? Sakura's acting all weird. And you don't do anything!" He looked at Sasuke for support. He nodded, once. Good enough.

"And then there was that fight in the arena! That Sakura... why... " He couldn't find the words. It had scarred him. Sakura had been about to kill the girl. Even thought the girl had given her a chance to surrender. Sure she acted kinda brutal first, but Temari had never tried to kill Sakura. He hadn't liked the look in Sakura's eyes then. He absolutely hated the way Temari's blood had run down her hand.

And he couldn't understand why she acted like that. Why she suddenly agreed to go on a date with him, not that he minded that, but it still didn't make sense. Why she fought with Sasuke.

"What happened in the forest?" He finally asked. That's where it had started. After they met the snake freak.

Sakura looked at him, and her eyes, her eyes looked just like they did in that fight with Temari. Empty and hard. She kept her face blank again, exactly like it had been after he had woken up. He hated that look, he hated it on Sasuke, he hated it on Kakashi.

But Sasuke, Sasuke had never looked like Sakura did. Oh he tried, but he never quite managed that look, the total emptiness. Kakashi did. Especially when he stood before that monument. Naruto had seen him there once, after training through the night.

Kakashi just stood in front of the monument, face utterly blank, he didn't move at all. Just staring at it, fists clenched.

Naruto had been careful never to be there again. He didn't want to see his teacher like that.

"I..." Sakura started, but stopped. She looked at Kakashi, who shrugged.

"It's your decision, whether to tell them or not." He said.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "So she beat some some genin, big deal."

Naruto, didn't know how to feel about that. She obviously had told Sasuke and not him...

Man but she could glare, he always assumed he knew her glares. But apparently she hadn't really glared at him? Because now he saw a glare directed at Sasuke that made her previous glares, at himself, look like a gently summer breeze.

Sasuke actually took a step back.

She looked at him again, grinding her teeth.

"I..." She started again, then looked away.

"If you don't want to tell me..." He said,even though it hurt, that she didn't want to tell him when she told Sasuke and Kakashi. But if she didn't want to...

"I don't want to tell you, I don't want to tell Sasuke." She said, looking away.

"Huh?" Sasuke said, echoing Naruto's thoughts. "But you already told me."

She... smirked, no that wasn't quite the right word. It lacked amusement. "I have told you something. I have left out a bit about that."

Sasuke's eyes widened. And he gasped. "No... no way." He actually started shaking with rage.

"Huh? What's wrong? What happened?" He asked Sasuke. Obviously he had an idea what was going on.

"Who were they? I'll kill them." Sasuke ground out.

Naruto stood at his side an instant later. "Damn it bastard, what happened?" He said, as he grabbed the other boy and started to shake him.

"Remember after we woke up?" Sasuke asked, between grinding teeth.

Naruto nodded. "Yeah so?"

"Sakura's clothes where torn. And she had washed them." Sasuke said, barely suppressing his anger.

Naruto noticed Kakashi give Sakura a look of concern, before he focused on her, she had been... no way, because they had been unconscious... Sakura had been...

"I'll kill them." He growled. The world started to turn red, and he could hear a voice muttering in the back of his head.

"No you won't." Sakura whispered.

Both him and Sasuke narrowed their eyes on her. "You don't need to protect them. We'll get them for what they did to you." Sasuke growled out.

Naruto nodded, Sasuke might not... or might, like Sakura, but they were teammates, they would avenge her.

Sakura laughed, it kinda freaked him out, that laugh utterly devoid of humor. "You can't kill them." She stood there, shaking.

"Why? Do you think we aren't strong enough?" Naruto asked, barely controlling himself not to run up to her and shake her silly. Sasuke growled assessment.

Kakashi kept quite, Naruto noticed absently, though his expression didn't give away anything.

"No, but that's beside the point. They never got that far. They only managed to rip some clothes." Sakura nearly shouted.

"And why would they stop?" Sasuke did shout. "Once they had you? You should have just run..."

"Because I killed them!" Sakura screamed in his face.

Oh... That, that was better. Right?

"And I kinda enjoyed it." She whispered, smiling cruelly at them.


	4. Dealing with Death

Expectations of Development

--o--

Dealing with Death

--o--

Well. Shit.

Naruto and Sasuke looked as if Sakura had punched them in the gut. Naruto looked a good deal worse than Sasuke, but both had taken a step back.

Kakashi had been afraid of that. He had wanted to have a little chat with her, alone. But she had seemed to have it well bottled up.

And then the two idiots had to go and make her talk.

She did give a good Zabusa impression though. That smile was a perfect replica, even if it looked decidedly out of place.

Ok, first things first, take control of the...

"It was fun, to see the bastards jump back." Sakura snickered, slowly walking towards Sasuke.

"It was fun to see them realize, that I wouldn't go down that easily." She licked her lips, as if trying to catch the last crumbs of a very sweet threat.

"It was even more fun, to see them slowly double over in pain." Alright, time to stop this, no need to traumatize the boys more than they already were.

"Sakura!" He, didn't shout, but it was close.

She glared at him, but she stopped, good she still recognized his authority.

He nodded. "Naruto, Sasuke. Training is over. You two go do something, eat ramen, read some scrolls, whatever. I'll deal with this."

Naruto opened his mouth. Kakashi just glared at him. His mouth closed again.

Sasuke had a quick look at Sakura, then decided that discretion was the better part of valor and disappeared. After a quick glance in Sakura's direction, she was still glaring at Kakashi, Naruto also disappeared.

"We are alone now. Sensei." She growled. "So, what do you want to say? I shouldn't enjoy myself by killing? I should be totally emotionless? I know! I know. But..." The anger drained away, leaving confusion and pain.

"No, I won't say that." He sighed. "I didn't want them to find out at all. I hoped you could keep it..." He trailed off.

She looked at him, tears barely held back. "I didn't want to enjoy it. I didn't."

Aww shit. He would have to hug her, this would be so much easier with boys, they would never want that sort of comfort.

He awkwardly put his arms around her, just enough to constitute a hug.

She giggled weakly. "You are really bad at this you know?" She muttered, burying her face in his vest.. "I didn't..."

"I know. There are very few people who want to enjoy it." He carefully patted her back.

She pulled him closer, he didn't know whether she was crying or not.

"But most people do enjoy it, at least while they are doing it." He continued, he noticed her tense.

"We shouldn't though. Ninja aren't supposed to..." She murmured.

"What's expected of Ninja is often impossible Sakura, there might be one or two Ninja in a hundred years, that come close to the ideal." He looked down at her, but her face was still hidden in his chest. "But most Ninja can't kill their emotions completely."

Now she did look up. "Did you enjoy killing Haku?"

Ouch that was a low blow. He hadn't enjoyed killing the boy. Well, not much at any rate. Far less than he would have enjoyed killing Zabusa.

But was that what she wanted, needed, to hear? He played for time, scrunching up his face in a comical grimace. Too bad she wasn't buying it, frowning as she was.

"I did, at least a little bit." He finally said and her eyes widened. She didn't pull back though.

"I was... glad, he couldn't kill any more of my students." He continued quietly.

It wasn't a lie, not exactly. He was far more satisfied that he killed Sasuke's murderer. That he was also protecting his other students was a very welcome bonus.

"I would have enjoyed killing Zabusa far more." He finished.

Sakura buried her face again. Thinking, he guessed, or crying.

They stood like this for a few minutes, him holding her weakly, she gripping him desperately.

At least she had stopped crying.

She looked up again. "So, it's ok to enjoy it? Their suffering?" She asked, her voice challenging him to tell her yes.

He went down on one knee, looking her straight in the eyes. "Would you have enjoyed it if they were just another genin team? Just out for your scroll? Just trying to pass the exam? Would you have enjoyed it, if you were send to kill an old man because he couldn't pay a debt?" This was the question, that separated the ninja, from the sadist, the human from the monster. He was pretty proud of making it up on the spot.

"I..." she didn't look away, but she still hesitated.

"I know it's not easy. I was the same, after I lost..." he stopped, he didn't want to tell her, he didn't... damn it she needed this, she needed somebody to empathize with, his emotional issues be damned.

"After I lost my eye and a teammate." He finally whispered. Her gaze fell on his sharingan, covered by his forehead protector. "When Sensei came back... and we started the counterattack. I was so angry." He didn't like thinking back, it always brought new pain, but... "Sensei and Rin too. We didn't show any mercy then. If a stone ninja crossed our path, he was dead. It was as simple as that. Sensei took out most of them, of course, but we killed our fair share too." He shuddered slightly.

"I enjoyed it more than any other kill I made, before or afterward." He noticed that he had looked away, towards the grave marker, towards his biggest failure. "We... we can't kill our emotions. Not all the time at least. We can't help but enjoy hurting those who hurt us." He chuckled weakly. "Human nature I suppose."

Sakura nodded slowly, then drew back. And took a deep breath.

"I... I think you're right. I didn't want them to hurt Sasuke, or Naruto. I hated them. And I wouldn't enjoy killing just because." She sighed. "I didn't enjoy hurting Temari like that. I mean, sure, I enjoyed beating her, tricking her. But I didn't enjoy those last attacks." She stopped. "Thank you Sensei." She finally muttered.

He nodded, glad that this crisis was over for now. She would have to work on the rest alone, but that shouldn't be too much for her.

Hmm now to lift the pretty depressing mood around here. "Sakura, I want to give you something, something I got from my teacher, after we had a similar talk." She perked up, good.

He reached into his breast pocket, were his trusty copy of Icha Icha resided. And held it out for her. He could just see her punching him for it, calling him a pervert.

Instead she blushed. Damn did he just give away his copy?

She mumbled something, but a bit too quiet, for even his ears, to make out.

"Sorry, what was that?" He asked curiously. She shouldn't be quite that red.

"That isn't necessary." She finally whispered, a brilliant scarlet.

"Oh? But I insist, it's a masterpiece of literature after all." And it was, even if few people appreciated it for that.

Again she murmured something too quite to make out.

"You'll have to speak up if you want me to hear you." He said amused. At least the ploy had worked, the mood had shifted from depression to embarrassment and amusement.

She stammered a few unintelligible words, pressing her fingers together, her blush never leaving her face.

He had no idea she was so against reading an adult novel, it wasn't that bad. Hell, he knew a few... but what if...

"I err, kinda..." She stammered.

Oh? Oho, has his cute little genin maybe...

"I kinda... alreadyhavethebook." She rushed out, her blush probably covering her entire body by now.

"Ah." He couldn't help the giggle that escaped him. "What was your favorite part?" He just had to ask.

The blush didn't lessen any, but she did manage to look him in the eye again.

"Page 237." She said, smirking ever so slightly and perversely.

Ahh! That was the part were... poor Sasuke. Well at least he would have get out of his shell a bit, if he wanted to or not.

"I see. Be gentle ok?" He patted her on the head.

She rolled her eyes. "Eh, maybe?" She managed a real smile this time. Still somewhat subdued, but it was there.

He nodded, ruffling her hair. "Good. Well, let's skip today's training. Maybe you should talk to your teammates. And well, you should probably inform the hospital that you left. They tend to worry about stuff like that."

She glared at him. "You didn't bother to tell them I left?" She growled, stalking up to him.

He shrugged. "Must have slipped my ofh." Damn, note to self her temper was far shorter than it had been.

He shrugged the punch off, it wasn't that hard, he had worse really. Still, students shouldn't punch their teachers in the stomach. "I see I should remember it next time then." He groaned.

Sakura sniffed. "See that you do."

She stalked away, back straight and growling in anger.

Well, at least the immediate crisis was averted. He rubbed his tender stomach. And it only cost one day of training.

--o--

Sakura walked through the streets of Konoha, lost in thought. After checking out of the hospital, she went home, to tell her parents. After a few tearful hugs and a change of clothes she went out again.

The talk with Kakashi had helped her considerably. Even if she still had to suppress some emotions. She felt more like her old self again, the self that she wanted to be. And hey, Kakashi managed to be relatively cheerful most of the time. If he could do it, she could too.

She took a deep breath. It was getting kinda late and she still hadn't talked to anybody. Neither her teammates nor Ino. Who to talk to first?

Well, she would have to find Sasuke and Naruto, she knew were Ino would likely be.

Decision made she changed directions to the Yamanaka flower shop.

--o--

Ino looked up from the flower arrangement in front of her. It just wasn't up to her usual quality. She had other things on her mind. Like the girl that just walked in.

"Forehead." She greeted her... not rival, not anymore.

"Ino-Pig." Sakura replied. But it lacked any heat that might have been there before.

"Dad?" Ino shouted. "I'm taking a break, gonna talk to Sakura a bit."

"Yes dear." The reply came a second later. "Have fun."

Fun, yeah right. Not if this conversation went anything like she thought it would.

"Let's go." Sakura said. "You know the Roppongi?"

Ino looked at Sakura startled. "Err I think I heard Asuma mention it once. It's supposed to be a pretty good bar."

Sakura nodded. "And they don't care too much how old you are, if you are a ninja. You just need to make the genjutsu convincing enough." She said.

Ino blinked, this was pretty bad. "Err, are you sure..." She asked.

Sakura looked at her. She didn't look all that good. "Yeah. I just... I just need a drink. You know? Something that makes you forget. If just for the night. Damn it!" She shouted that last part. Pretty damn loud too. "If I'm old enough to get myself nearly killed time and time again I'm old enough to drink!"

Passer byes looked at her strangely. Some, the civilians with pity, the ninja just nodded solemnly.

Ino sighed. "And you decided to drag me into this why?"

Sakura shrugged. "Cause I need somebody to talk to. Somebody who isn't male."

Fair enough.

"I'm not paying." There were limits after all.

"Eh, I made enough on my last mission to pay for this." Sakura replied.

"Good." They walked in silence after that.

Sakura caught in her own thoughts, not willing to talk here, out in the open.

That was fine with Ino, she wasn't exactly looking forward to their discussion either.

--o--

Sakura slipped into the booth, Ino had taken. The bouncer had let the both of them in after only a cursory glance at their genjutsu. Some kunoichi or other, and the barman hadn't even bothered with that glance.

Luckily for them none of their teachers were present either, so staying here shouldn't be a problem.

She put down a large bottle of sake and two cups.

Ino looked at them dubiously. "What's that?" She asked, worriedly.

Sakura filled the cups. "Sake, some of the better stuff..." she looked down at her cup.

"Ok... so why do you need to drink?" Ino asked, poking her cup suspiciously.

Sakura sighed and grabbed her cup. "Eh I just killed three genin in the forest of death and kinda enjoyed it." She was proud of how casual that sounded. Then she slammed the cup home. Not even tasting the Sake.

Ino stared at her for a second, then grabbed her own cup and copied Sakura.

Both of them started coughing almost immediately.

"Gah, why would anybody drink this stuff?" Ino gagged.

"No idea, sure isn't for the taste." Sakura grimaced. But her stomach felt kinda warm and the burning in her throat wasn't that bad anymore. She filled the cups again.

"So..." Ino started. "Three enemy genin."

Sakura nodded, staring into her cup.

"Why? I mean you said you would..."

"I didn't have much of a choice. They were after Sasuke." Sakura looked into Ino's eyes. "I could have left him and Naruto there, they were unconscious. But what kind of comrade would I be?"

She downed her cup. Ino once again mirroring her.

"Bleh, still tastes like shit." Ino muttered. Sakura nodded in agreement.

"So I lured them in." Sakura continued. "You remember that poison I told you about?"

Ino nodded. "The one that cost you all your D-Rank pay?"

"Yeah, I used that. It... it wasn't pretty. But back then?" she shuddered slightly. "I didn't care. I just wanted to... I just wanted to beat them. I'm sure some part of me wanted to hurt them too. But that was just a small part."

This time Ino filled their cups. Sakura noticed that their genjutsu had broken. She didn't remember breaking it. But nobody was looking at them, so she didn't apply it again.

"Damn." Ino muttered. "No wonder that you decided to get serious."

Sakura chuckled mirthlessly. "Came close to it in wave too. If Kakashi hadn't been around. If the villagers hadn't appeared." She trailed off.

"You didn't tell me about that." Ino said. Or slurred? Sakura felt kinda weird. Well maybe some more Sake would help with that. She sipped on her cup. Still tasted weird, but not as bad as that first cup.

Maybe that was just the fact that she wasn't sure if she tasted it at all.

"Eh, there wasn't any time." Sakura returned. Did she slur? Well, Ino shrugged so she understood her still.

"A few days after we came back we met up with the sand team... assholes even then. You know what? I'm not sorry about Temari at all. She was... is... a bitch." Sakura muttered.

Ino nodded solemnly. "Yeah, remember the first part? Good riddance." Though Sakura could see Ino was just agreeing to make her feel better. She was a good friend.

"Thanks." She muttered.

Ino grinned, taking another sip from the Sake, grimacing only slightly. "No problem... er for what?"

Laughing Sakura shook her head. "For being friends, for talking here." She looked at the ceiling. "And for making me wait."

She could feel Ino's gaze on her.

"Eh, nobody should be so serious so young." She trailed off. "But, thanks to you too. For making me realize just how precious our childhood was."

Sakura frowned at that. "Was? You still have time."

Ino glared at her. "What are you talking about?" She definitely slurred there, Sakura had a bit of trouble piercing the words together. "If you get serious about being a ninja then I get serious about being a ninja. You won't leave me behind forehead."

Sakura smirked. "Too late piggy. I already got Sasuke to kiss me."

The screamed "WHAT?", that followed left her ears ringing. She quickly looked around the room. Everybody was looking at them. She blushed furiously. Ino didn't even notice the looks. "You did what with Sasuke?" She screeched.

Sakura tried to shush her, when she saw the bouncer approaching. "Henge!" She hissed to Ino, who looked at her stupidly for a second, before her hands flew clumsily into the seals. Sakura almost laughed at how stupid Ino looked doing the seals in slow motion.

But she had the same problem. And forming her chakra wasn't all that easy either.

It took her three tries, before she got it right. And holding the henge? That proved to be quite difficult as well. But she held it, Ino too, though she did look a bit green.

Sakura grinned from ear to ear, as the bouncer stopped in front of them.

"Is there a problem ma'am?" He asked politely. Sakura started to shake her head, then reconsidered. That would probably be a bad idea.

"No, my friend just got a bit exited, is all." She said, though the bouncer seemed to be kinda slow, the way his brows furrowed at her.

He said nothing for a few seconds, then nodded. "I see, but I think that will be your only bottle for tonight." Then he turned around and returned to the door.

Sakura wanted to... wanted to... she looked around, all around her people grinned. She looked at Ino, who had lost control of her henge. Then down at herself, still in her henge.

"Whatever." She muttered, if they let her stay for now, that was all right with her. She didn't get what was happening anyways, so she sat down again.

"You kissed Sasuke?" Ino hissed at her.

She filled her cup again and took a small sip. "Of course, he's on my team after all." She replied smugly.

"How? I know, that you know, that he would never touch a fangirl ever." She said, before she drank her whole cup.

Sakura looked at the Inos... err Ino. "Eh it was pretty easy. Just held a kunai at his throat." She smirked.

Ino blinked. And reared up for another scream, Sakura could just tell. A second later Sakura sat besides Ino and muffled the scream with her hand.

"Shhh." She muttered angrily. "Want us to be thrown out?"

Ino shook her head and reached for the bottle. "Nah." she blinked. "You know this stuff is actually pretty good." She took a drag.

Sakura nodded, then took the bottle form her friend. "Yeah, I suppose."

"But seriously," Ino whispered. "A kunai at his throat?"

"Ehhh, just to get him to talk. Wouldn't force him. Would just be wrong."

Ino nodded. "Very, very wrong yeah." She swayed slightly, as she brought a finger to her lips. "Why would he talk to you if he has a kunai at his throat?"

"Means you are strong. Interesting." Sakura wondered why she found it hard to concentrate. She didn't have that much sake. Her father always drank about the same as she and Ino drank together. He didn't sway like that. She was missing something though. But that wasn't important anyway.

"A toast." She had seen a few adults do that too.

"A toast?" Ino asked.

Sakura nodded. After the world stood still again she answered. "A toast. To the end of childhood."

Ino looked at her, then carefully nodded herself. "To the end of childhood." She lifted her cup, mysteriously full again. Sakura lifted her own and emptied it.

She stared at the table for a second, then looked at Ino. "Let's go."

Ino looked up at her, she kinda slumped into the bench. "Huh? Where?"

"Sasuke. You gotta kiss him too." Sakura answered. Fair was fair after all.

Ino blinked slowly, considering the idea. Then nodded. "Yeah I gotta kiss him too."

Slowly the two of them got off the bench. Sakura briefly wondered where her coordination went. She still had it seconds ago. But with Ino's help she managed to stagger to the exit.

On the way out they bumped into a kunoichi, but the woman only seemed amused by that.

"Careful you two, who knows who you'll run into." She said cheerfully, then went to the bar with her companion.

Ino ignored that totally, instead she looked at Sakura. "Uhh where is Sasuke?" She asked.

"Just follow me, we went to his home to collect some stuff for a mission once, I know where it is." Sakura giggled.

--o--

Anko watched the two genin wobble away from the bar, one slurred a barely understandable question to the other, who answered in the same gibberish.

Truly, the two would have a morning to remember.

She turned to her companion. "Was that wise? Letting them go off on their own?"

Kakashi shrugged. "Probably not, but their talk did answer a few questions. And what's the worst that can happen?"

Anko twitched. "Did you have to say that? You just jinxed the poor things."

Kakashi looked at her with such innocent eyes...

"Oh? You worry too much." He sat down at a table.

"Anyway, you want me to teach the pink one?" Anko asked. "She impressed me, going after her opponent like that."

Kakashi nodded, though he didn't look that happy about it. "Yes, she could have restrained herself a bit more though."

Anko raised an eyebrow. "And you want me to teach her restrain?"

Kakashi shook his head. "No, how to make poison. You are the only expert we have in Konoha."

Huh? She was? "I am? I would think that the medics are better at that than me."

A waiter put their usual drinks in front of them, the joys of being a regular.

"They have a good grasp on the basics, and some more advanced stuff, true. But they have no real idea how to use that in combat. Or which poison to make on the fly." Kakashi said.

Anko nodded slowly. "I suppose, poison isn't really that much of my repertoire though. I know barely half as much as a grass ninja."

"Still three times more than our experts." Kakashi countered easily.

"Well... alright. I suppose I could teach her a bit." They drank in silence for a few minutes.

Anko spend that time, compiling a list of what she knew, how much of that she could teach in a month. And panicking about the prospect of having a student.

She wasn't cut for teaching! She was better at scaring children than teaching them. Though maybe that wasn't such a bad thing when handling poison.

"You know she's gonna go up against Konoha genin?" She finally asked. If she taught her and she killed a genin from Konoha...

"Yes." Kakashi didn't seem to worry at all, the way he slumped into the bench. "But she asked for nonlethal poison too. So I'm not too worried."

Well, that was a relive. "Heh, pity. Still if she beats some of the better fighters I'll need to take pictures of the clan heads faces. A clan-less kunoichi beating their best. Oh that would be great."

Kakashi nodded slightly, his eye narrowed. "That could be... amusing..." He drawled, a smile slowly spread over his face. "I think I'll need to step up her training some."

"Maybe ask Kurenai for some help training her. She complained that none of her brats were interested in genjutsu." Anko added. "Isn't your brat supposed to have a talent for them?"

Kakashi giggled. "That is an interesting idea... but I don't know how much use that will be against her opponents. Both Neji and Sasuke are immune to genjutsu."

Anko rolled her eyes at that. Bloodline users and their Illusions. "Not immune, they merely have better defenses against them. If you catch them unaware, they still fall for them."

"I suppose." Kakashi drawled, clearly not believing her. Asshole.

"Anyway, are we here to talk about boring stuff or to drink?" She crowed.

Kakashi chuckled and reached for his cup again. "To drink I believe."

--o--

Sasuke felt bad. He felt like that for most of the day. And this wasn't his usual, I'm lonely, I have to train, I have to avenge my family, kind of bad feeling. This was new.

When Sakura had said she enjoyed killing those guys... it reminded him of Itachi. And then it didn't. Itachi didn't look like that, like a crazy bloodthirsty killer.

Not that Sakura looked much like that. She gave it a good run sure. And he was sure in a few years she might be able to pull it off. But a little pink haired girl in a dress, just didn't inspire terror on quite that level.

Still, that statement had him flash back to Itachi. He growled slightly. Just like everything else, eventually led back to Itachi. The man just didn't leave him alone. Haunting him every second of every day.

He sighed, as he prepared his dinner. After Kakashi had send both him and Naruto away, they met up outside the training ground.

Neither had said a word, just stared in Sakura's direction.

Naruto had opened his mouth now and again, but he had kept quite.

In the end they had both left without talking. Naruto somewhere, Sasuke hadn't cared enough to check and Sasuke back home, to train, like every day since the massacre.

He didn't enjoy it, he didn't enjoy the isolation from his peers, the constant soreness, the fangirls. But he didn't have the time. And he did enjoy proving he was the best. That his hard work did pay off. That he was constantly coming closer to Itachi.

And there he was again. He hadn't screamed at Itachi invading his thoughts in years. Not after the first year, that was the hardest.

Now he was just too used to it.

Somebody knocked at the door.

Sasuke grumbled, even if he was glad for the distraction. In a way he was even glad for the fangirls. It gave him something else to rage about.

He ambled slowly over, was that giggling he heard? He thought he had gotten rid of the fangirls when he left the academy. Sakura didn't count, at least not anymore. Not after today. Not after the tower.

Why did he kiss her again? Just a reward right? Well he did kinda...

"Open the damn door Sashuke." Somebody shouted drunkenly.

Somebody female. "Yeah, we wantsch in." Somebody else screamed.

Sasuke briefly considered ignoring them. But they started knocking again, louder and who knew what they would do if they lost their patience. He was reasonably sure Sakura was out there. Probably with Ino.

Once, not even one month ago, he would have snorted in contempt, left them out there and simply ignored the banging. Content in the knowledge that they were useless and would give up soon enough.

Now though? He was certain, if he didn't open the door they would kick it in. Well Sakura would, but Ino would follow.

What would happen afterward he didn't know. It wouldn't be pretty however and his apartment wouldn't be salvageable and he didn't get enough from the orphans fund and the Uchiha money, to pay for a new one. Especially if he destroyed it himself, beating the stuffing out of two drunken idiots.

Better to intercept them outside. And wrestle them into submission there.

His thoughts screeched to a halt. Where had that come from?

He shook his head, then opened the door It wasn't important.

"What do you want?" He asked, rudely. But they were causing a ruckus, at 10 in the evening. He felt very justified.

"A kisch." Sakura drawled, her eyes half closed.

"Again?" He asked.

Ino's eyes widened. "You really really kisched him?" She slurred, then punched Sakura.

Well she touched her at any rate.

Sakura nodded happily. And here he thought the guys were supposed to brag.

He frowned. "It was a one time thing. A reward for..." He trailed off.

Sakura didn't seem to notice his slip up. Why was she drunk anyway?

"A reward yesh." She mumbled. "An I wan you to kisch Ino too."

Sasuke's mind went blank for a second, then rebooted. There was something very very wrong here. He couldn't quite put his finger on it however. But... wasn't he supposed to think about a guy? And not two girls kissing him.

--o--

Somewhere in a shattered wasteland, a little boy stood over a corpse.

The boy was bruised, bleeding, and severely malnourished. His gaunt face stared down at the corpse. A sword had pierced the man, he had been handsome before, but the empty face was frightening even without the hatred in it's eyes.

The boy knew, that this victory was only temporary. But it was a victory, the first he ever had. Well, the first he had alone.

Though he wondered where the sword had come from. He pulled it out of the corpse.

On the hilt somebody had written a word. Threesome.

Libido blinked, he had only the vaguest idea of what that meant. However he wasn't one to question good luck. And if the idea got him a weapon that would allow him to defend himself against the Itachis roaming the mind scape...

He whirled around, bringing the sword up in a desperate block. Another sword slammed down on it.

The force of the blow drove him down onto a knee, the sword vibrated dangerously.

Another Itachi had come, face blank, besides eyes filled with hatred...

Libido decided it was past time to disappear. There would be other opportunities to fight. And now he had a weapon.

With a last glare at the Itachi he turned and ran. He had become good at that, since the Itachis appeared. He was so small back then...

--o--

Sasuke shook his head. Right. Itachi. That was what he had to think about. Not...

"Shinten Shoushid." Ino slurred. His eyes widened. As he felt something slam into his body.

It felt kinda weird, almost as if somebody had shoved him out of the way. Not painful, just rude.

And then he couldn't do anything. Just watch as Ino took over control of his body.

--o--

It was, Ino decided, an interesting experience. To go from very very drunk, to very very sober.

She looked down, at a broad chest, washboard abs and...

"Hey, no touching the meshandice." Sakura shouted.

Ino blushed brightly, remembering where she was...

Oh god! She had taken over Sasuke's body, he would never forgive her.

Why did she agree to go drinking with Sakura? Why? Oh right, her friend had decided to become a real ninja sooner than planned and Ino wanted to know why. Stupid her.

She sighed, getting Sasuke was a stupid dream anyways, both her and Sakura had known that. He was just so broken...

Sakura gestured to a chair, she had gotten from somewhere. Rolling her eyes Ino nevertheless sat down.

"This is a bad idea you know?" She asked.

Sakura looked at her in bewilderment. "What are you talking about? It wasch your idea." She answered.

"I was drunk!" Ino shot back. Of course, talking to a drunk made reasoning an uphill battle.

"Sho?"

"Forget it. Just hurry up with the ropes." Ino muttered.

She really shouldn't go along with this. But this might be the only chance she ever got at a kiss from Sasuke. She smirked evilly. And wouldn't it be fun to brag about it to those little twits from the academy?

"All done." Sakura cheered. Ino nodded and released Sasuke, it was a wonder she had lasted so long, she looked at her body slumped in the door. It had taken her three tries to get her chakra into a modicum of order, who knew how long she could keep supplying the needed amounts, on instinct alone?

--o--

Control returned, only after he was tied to one of his kitchen chairs. He supposed he should be glad the girls decided not to strip him. And he had to say he was somewhat impressed. He knew that it was harder to use chakra while drunk.

Not just because you had trouble seeing straight, but the alcohol also did something to your chakra system. But the scroll detailing that was kinda theoretical and didn't have much use, beyond telling him that alcohol made chakra control more difficult.

Ino slowly made it back to her feet. He had noticed that once she was in his body she stopped slurring. He briefly wondered what it meant for attacks with poison against her.

She blinked, then grinned. "You can't run away now." She giggled. Sakura nodded giddily. Though both of them seemed to have trouble keeping their eyes open.

Ino stumbled towards him, intercepted halfway by Sakura, who helped to stead her.

They reached him and Ino let herself fall down onto his lap.

She grinned at him, with half lidden eyes. "Can I have a kiss?" She asked, surprisingly clear.

He sighed, he could turn away, but who knew what the girls would do then. He looked at Sakura, who looked at him... pleading? Expectantly? Threatening Who knew.

Girls were weird. Kunoichi weirder. Well, a kiss would be the fastest and easiest way to get rid of them he supposed. And it wasn't as if it felt bad. He snorted, or was some sort of promise.

He leaned forward, he notice that Ino didn't smell much of alcohol. Sure, there was a faint whiff, but not much. Then again, they weren't used to alcohol, so they probably didn't have much.

Their lips met. He heard Sakura whisper Naruto's name. He nearly rolled his eyes. That worked once, he wasn't stupid enough to make it work twice.

Still, he might as well do his best.

It lasted a few seconds. Their tongues dancing briefly, before he pulled back again. He could feel Sakura's eyes on him. It was weird, Ino didn't seem to notice, her eyes were closed and she was smiling brightly.

Whispering she snuggled into him. "Hmm that was nice. Thank you Sakura."

What? He was the one who kissed her, not Sakura. Why didn't he get a thanks?

Then Sakura hugged Ino from behind. "Thanks for being there." she muttered. He was apparently forgotten, as soon as they got what they wanted form him.

He wondered why that hurt. He wanted it that way after all, no distractions and all that.

He looked down at the girls, who had somehow slid down on the floor and passed out, lightly hugging still.

He ignored the slight blush forming on his face and shrugged off the rope Sakura had used to... secure him to the chair. Apparently it was more difficult to tie somebody to a chair, than to perform a high class jutsu. Or she was just bad at knots.

He looked down at the two girls again and sighed.

He disappeared into his bedroom and came back with a blanked. There, that should be enough. There was no way, that he would carry them onto the couch. Or god forbid into his bed. He shuddered at that thought.

Grumbling he headed into his kitchen, his dinner was still good, dealing with the girls had only taken a few minutes.

Food, then bed. He decided, he would have to get up early. Hopefully tomorrow he would actually get to train with Kakashi. And he wanted to be awake before the two girls. If only to enjoy their pain. Revenge was sweet after all. He grinned evilly, as he prepared his dinner.

--o--

Naruto twisted and turned in his bed. The day had started so well, Sakura had woken up. She was fine and wanted to train.

She even agreed to go on a date with him!

And then it all went to pieces.

How could she enjoy killing somebody...

That was...

Good people didn't enjoy killing other people.

He had desperately wanted to talk to somebody, as he walked out of the training ground. But only Sasuke was there. And for once Naruto didn't know what to say. He tried, but whenever he opened his mouth he had to think back to Sakura's smile, Zabusa's smile. And all thoughts fled.

Why would Sakura...

Again his mind drew a blank. He had been wandering aimlessly through Konoha since morning. Around midday he spotted some pervert peeking in on the girls bath. But he just didn't have the energy to do something about it, so he walked away.

He growled, angry at... he didn't know. Not at Sakura. She was alone, against three enemies and had to defend him and Sasuke. At Sasuke? For loosing against that snake freak? Or himself? Yeah right. He wasn't stupid enough to think there could have been any other outcome.

In the end nobody was to blame, the only one's who he might be able to blame were either dead or way out of his reach. Which meant he couldn't beat them up.

He tossed around a bit more. That still left him to deal with Sakura.

Hopefully Kakashi had talked some sense into her. And if not... well as a comrade he would talk some sense into her. Maybe ask for hat date. Beating him should... well should do something.

Maybe even the right thing.

He buried his face into his pillow.

He would make it better. Somehow. You didn't leave your teammates hanging.

--o--

Hmm the chapters get longer... hope that trend continues. And hey it's not quite as dark as the last ones. Dunno if that is good or bad.

Still need a beta however.


	5. Sparring, Suffering and Happiness

Expectations of Development

--o--

Sparring, Suffering and Happiness

--o--

Naruto yawned, as he looked out of his window. The sun was shining, the sky was blue and his mood was back to normal. In short, it was a beautiful day.

"Sakura, I'll make you feel better." He clenched his fist. He wouldn't fail.

--o--

Sasuke yawned, as he walked out of his bedroom. He navigated around the lump in his living room, barely paying any attention to the two girls cuddling, under the thin blanket.

He stopped and replayed the sentence. Then he stared. Yes, Sakura and Ino were curled around each other on his living room floor, still asleep...

He stared some more. Kinda cute.

He blinked, then shook his head. He didn't have time for this. Besides he was hungry. They would want some too, probably.

He sighed, how annoying. Still, he supposed making some extra wouldn't really be that much of a bother. And it wasn't as if he minded yesterday all that much. He grinned slightly, there was something to be said about fangirls.

He blinked again. What was it with him lately? He didn't have time for stuff like that, even if he would have to rebuild his clan sometime...

--o--

Sakura cracked an eye open and groaned silently. She hurt all over. Not much, but more than enough to be very uncomfortable.

She looked at Ino's sleeping face, close to her own. Hmm she was cuddled up to Ino, as much as Ino was cuddled up to her. Clothes were still on though, which was a relive. She didn't remember anything from last night.

Well she remembered going to get drunk, but shortly after entering the bar it went blank.

How much did she have anyway? And where was she now?

She looked around carefully. At least she didn't have a headache. She ached, her head felt kinda fuzzy, she wasn't sure if she wouldn't throw up any second now and she wanted some food. But she didn't have a headache.

Still, she had woken up happier, much happier.

She extracted herself from Ino's embrace and slipped from the thin blanket.

Well, at least she knew why she was sore. The floor wasn't exactly the most comfortable of beds.

She was in some sort of apartment... hmm she had been here before.

"Morning." A bored voice said behind her.

She whirled around, much to her regret. The world spun for a few seconds and she held her stomach, who rebelled at the sudden movement.

Sasuke stood in the door, unreadable expression and all.

"Breakfast will be ready in a few minutes." He glared at her. "If you need to throw up, the toilet is over there." She looked at the indicated door, then at Sasuke again and nodded.

"Toilet there, got it." She looked around the apartment again. "What are we doing here?" She asked finally.

"And more importantly. Why were we on the floor?" She growled.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "You attacked me, forced me to kiss Ino, then passed out on the floor." He looked at her, smirking slightly. "Was I supposed to give you my bed as well?"

Sakura blushed, there was only one response to that. "Yeah, what kinda gentlemen are you anyway?" Ok that wasn't the response she was looking for, but it would do.

"The one that get's to sleep in his own bed." He turned around.

"Who said anything about you not sleeping in your bed?" She shot back.

He stopped, his back stiff and blushed, if his ears were any indication.

"You should get ready. We have an hour till training starts." He muttered, then disappeared in the kitchen.

Training? In her condition? Ino groaned from the floor.

"Ohhh my head." Well, looked like Ino had less luck with her hangover. "Somebody kill me please."

"Sasuke? Do you have any painkillers?" Sakura asked, as quite as possible, for Ino's benefit.

"Bathroom." Came his curt answer.

"Morning Ino." Sakura said, squatting besides her friend.

"Morning Sakura." Ino muttered in return, holding her head. "What did we do last night?" She asked, her face scrunched up in pain.

She looked around. "And where are we?"

Sakura tried a weak smile. "Sasuke's home. He's making us breakfast." She blinked. Wow, even if he let them sleep on the floor. He was making breakfast, he came pre-trained!

Ino blinked. "Uhh what are we doing in Sasuke's home?" She asked, looking around with wide eyes.

"Well, apparently we forced him to kiss you last night."Sakura shrugged.

Ino stared at her. Then stared some more. And some more, her eyes comically wide.

"Wha?" Ino attempted to ask.

"Don't sweat it. I'm gonna go and get you some painkillers. And water, I think I need some myself."

Sakura disappeared into the bathroom, leaving Ino in her stupor. There was a small medicine cabinet on the wall. After locating the painkillers, she left for the kitchen, passing Ino again, who still stared at nothing in particular.

Sasuke busied himself with the rice cooker and some fish, when she entered.

"You got some water?" She asked.

He grunted, but pointed her to a tab, then to one of the cabinets.

"Are you always this talkative in the morning?" She grumbled. He simply shrugged. Asshole.

Still, armed with a glass of water and the painkillers she returned to Ino.

"Here drink this, should improve your situation a bit."

Ino blinked, then nodded and eagerly gulped the water down. Then she looked at Sakura.

"Next time you have such a stupid Idea, leave me out of it ok? I don't want to... did I really force Sasuke to kiss me?" She sounded quite incredulous at the concept.

Sakura shrugged. "No idea, I don't remember anything from last night." It was kinda frustrating. "Anyway, I need some water myself. So let's go to the kitchen."

--o--

Sakura suppressed a groan. If she had to describe how she felt, "Meh" would sum it up beautiful. It wasn't that she nursed a headache, like Ino. It was just a general, all-pervasive feeling of... meh.

Sasuke didn't care. Big surprise there. Not that she blamed him, if he had invaded her home, and forced her to kiss him... ok, if Naruto had invaded her home and forced her to kiss him... ok, if Kakashi... ok, let's face it she was a slut... or at least perfectly willing to kiss cute guys, provided Kakashi was as cute as Ayame's reaction led her to believe.

She watched Ino, who picked listlessly at her food, whimpering every now and again.

Poor Ino, hopefully the painkillers would kick in soon.

The silence drove her up the wall.

"So." She said, facing Sasuke. "What exactly did we do last night?" She asked.

Sasuke looked up from his food. He had hadn't looked up from it since he put it in front of them and sat down to eat himself.

"You really don't remember huh?" He asked, frowning, or was that smiling? Hard to say. At her.

She rolled her eyes. "No I don't. Ino doesn't either."

"Heh. Well, you made utter fools out of yourself, attempted to restrain me." He looked at Sakura, eyes filled with contempt. A mocking smirk on his lips. "Really, I have never seen a knot as sloppy. And told me to kiss Ino. I did," He rolled his eyes. "not because I like you, simply because it was easier than fighting you."

Ino glared at him, weakly. Sakura rolled her eyes. She was well aware of that, thank you very much.

"Then you two passed out, I put a blanket on you and went to bed." He shrugged. "End of story."

Well, that wasn't that bad, she supposed.

"Ok, sorry for yesterday then. We were drunk." She apologized.

He snorted. "I would never have guessed." He looked at them, his expression had returned to his standard, which meant the contempt in his eyes and the sneer on his face were barely visible anymore. "Why were you drinking anyway?"

Ino glared at him, then at Sakura. "Why did we want to have that asshole again? And yeah why did we go drinking?" She sipped at her glass of water.

"Dunno why we wanted him. I'm thinking of switching to Naruto. At least with him, you can have a conversation without resorting to violence." Sakura tilted her head in thought. "Even if it will devolve into violence, since he'll say something stupid."

She sighed. "As for why we went drinking. To celebrate my first three kills." She snorted sadly. "Or better, to drown the pain in alcohol."

Sasuke looked away, when she mentioned her kills, Ino down on her food.

"Oh, yeah." She muttered.

Sasuke said nothing, but he looked at her and... well, she couldn't read his expression, but it might have been supposed to convey understanding.

"As much as I don't want to say this." Sakura said. "We do have training." She blinked. "And I should really inform my parents that I'm still alive." Her eyes widened in a panic. "Oh god they must be worried sick."

Ino shot up. "My father is going to kill me!" she shouted, and immediately held her head, groaning.

"Thanks for the breakfast Sasuke. I'm afraid we'll have to cut it short. Gotta get ready for training and face the wrath of worried parents. See ya at the training ground." Sakura shouted, as she pulled Ino out of Sasuke's apartment.

"I spend the night over at your house, you at mine right?" Ino asked weakly, as she was dragged behind Sakura.

"Yeah, if they didn't check already..."

--o--

Sasuke watched them run. A pity, breakfast had been... lively?

He turned around and collected his gear. It had been... interesting. Watching Sakura and Ino blush was kinda fun. And seeing them curled up around each other.

He shook his head. He didn't have time for stuff like that. After he killed Itachi...

Though there was the thing about rebuilding his clan... Damn her for making him think of that.

--o--

Shikamaru watched Ino carefully. There was something off about her. And it wasn't the groaning about headaches, or the general complaining about everything and nothing at all.

No, since she had show up, he felt on edge. As if something really, really bad would happen soon.

"What happened Ino?" Choji asked, foolishly. You never asked questions like that, it only lead to trouble.

"Got drunk, have a hangover... kissed Sasuke." She looked at them wistfully, not quite the triumph he had expected, if she somehow conned Sasuke into it.

"Now if only I could remember it!" She wailed.

Ah that explained that. He still didn't understand why anybody would care about what Sasuke did, but since it kept her attention away from Shikamaru and training, he didn't mind.

"Morning." Asuma greeted them, as he walked up to them.

"Morning." Said Shikamaru and Choji together. Ino on the other hand was up into Asuma's face.

Shikamaru felt a shiver run down his spine. Something about this was wrong. So very, very wrong.

"You will train us." Ino said, having pulled Asuma down to her eye level. "You will show no mercy, you will drive us into the ground." She paused, grimacing. "You will ignore my headache and train me harder than the other two."

Oh god, what was wrong with her? Why would she make those demands? Why include her teammates into her masochistic games?

"Uhh..." Asuma said, smartly.

"Sakura is pulling away, I will not fall behind. Before, I could play ninja, I had time. That time is over. I have to grow up." She glared at her teacher. "And it's your job to help me do it."

Shikamaru wanted to make her shut up, to stop her from ruining his easy life. But if he drew attention to himself now...

"Well, it's good that you are interested..." Asuma started to say, Choji looked at Ino in consternation, clearly confused by what was happening.

"I'm not interested, in your excuses. You will train us. No more games with Shikamaru, unless they involve us too. And before any games, we will train till we can't move anymore." She glared at them all now. "Did I make myself clear?" She growled.

Asuma chuckled, chuckled! Shikamaru wanted to cry. "Well, if that's what you want..." Asuma said, he patted her on the head. Shikamaru was glad she didn't bite his hand off. What was that fool doing? If he acted like that Ino would never... let...

Oh god Asuma agreed with her. He would do it, he would... he would make them work!

Shikamaru hung his head, this was just too "Troublesome." He muttered.

Ino smirked evilly. "You better believe it."

--o--

Sakura arrived at the training ground, to find Naruto and Sasuke expertly ignoring each other.

She still felt a bit queasy, but a quick shower and some more food had helped with that, so she was reasonably certain she would survive the training.

Naruto perked up, as he noticed her approach.

"Sakura!" He shouted, running towards her. Sasuke remained where he stood, leaning against a tree.

"Naruto." She nodded. She felt kinda bad about yesterday. Even if Sasuke seemed to have gotten over it... he had the advantage of seeing her and Ino make utter fools of themselves, so he didn't count.

"Are you all right?" Naruto asked. "I'm sorry about yesterday. We shouldn't have pressed..."

"It's not your fault." She interrupted him. "It was my fault. I shouldn't have kept it a secret." She added, eyes at the ground. "Also..." She looked away. "I'm sorry about, you know. Acting the way I did." Blushing she looked at him. "It was uncalled for. You two were just worried."

Naruto looked at her, his brows furrowed in confusion. "Why is it?" He asked. "That everything you say, makes absolutely no sense?"

She blinked, she had expected many things, this wasn't one of them. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, yesterday you were all rahr I'm evil and enjoy killing stuff, painfully if possible."

She snorted, that sounded so much like her.

"And today you are totally fine again! I had a speech all planned out." He turned around muttering. "It was a good one too."

She giggled, he was just too cute like that. "Well, Kakashi was faster than you Naruto. And he was somewhat competent at helping me deal." She rolled her eyes. "Hard as that is to believe."

Naruto looked at her, suspicious. "Really? You aren't evil anymore? You won't enjoy killing people?"

She shook her head. "I won't enjoy killing people anymore." She frowned thoughtfully. "Unless of course, they want to hurt my teammates." Even if she had some more issues to work out, she had very little doubt about that. But yesterday had helped... weird considering she didn't remember half of it.

Naruto opened his mouth, but said nothing. He closed it again and shook his head, but a thin smile did creep on his face.

"Heh, I suppose I would do the same. But I would try not to kill them." He nodded with conviction.

Sakura patted his head. "That's because you can afford to spare them. I can't. I need to end it quickly and permanently. Otherwise I won't survive." Naruto shrugged her hand off, frowning in annoyance.

"Then we'll train, so you don't have to kill anybody." He declared, gabbing her shoulders.

She laughed. "That's the idea." She looked at Sasuke.

"Hey pretty boy." She shouted.

Sasuke twitched, good that would work as a nickname. Naruto's snort would also help riling him up.

"Get over here, trainings starting."

"What are we doing?" Naruto asked, rolling his shoulders in preparation.

--o--

"Sparing obviously." Sasuke said, a fierce smile on his lips.

Naruto grinned as well. In a way he was glad Sakura had already recovered from... that. Even if it was annoying, he had tossed and turned for half a night for absolutely nothing!

Well he would be able to work his frustration out on Sasuke. He gave the bastard an equally feral smile. This would be fun.

"Where are you two looking?" Sakura asked. She glared at them. Why was she glaring at them?

"Uh, we were about to spar?" Naruto ventured.

"Yeah, we need to look at each other to..." Sasuke added, until one of Sakura's kunai interrupted him.

"You are sparing with me too." She growled. "Better pay attention to me as well." Naruto looked at Sasuke who, for some weird reason, held his throat.

Fight Sakura? Well he suppo

Sakura introduced her fist to his stomach. "Gack!" He grunted.

"Pay attention idiot." She snorted.

He glared at her. And dropped to the ground, barely avoiding the kick aimed at his head. Damn, she was serious!

And she thought he couldn't take her. Ha! In real combat she wouldn't...

He rolled away from her descending foot.

Pay attention now, think about it later, fool.

He sprang up, and watched her warily, she would probably attempt to corner him, then she could... Sakura jumped back, avoiding a barrage of shuriken.

"Gotta do better than that pretty boy." She taunted Sasuke, who had snuck up on her, while Naruto kissed the ground.

Sasuke shrugged. "I will." His grin was still there, directed at Sakura.

"I'll protect you, Sakura!" Naruto shouted, as he ran towards Sasuke. No way would he let Sasuke hurt her.

Sasuke whirled around, his eyes wide. "What the hell are you doing you idiot?" He asked, while he blocked every punch Naruto threw at him. "I was gonna take her out."

"I won't let you hurt her." Naruto growled.

Sasuke shook his head, while he retreaded from Naruto's attacks. "You think she needs your help?" He asked, before a foot connected with his head, sending him flying.

"Thanks I suppose." Sakura grinned.

Naruto grinned back.

He stopped grinning a second later, when her fist slammed into his face, sending him away form Sasuke.

"Now take me serious! I don't need your protection. Especially not in a sparing match." She glared at him. "In fact, why don't we make this interesting? If you beat me here and now, we go on a date. A real one. With good night kiss even." She smirked at him, then turned to Sasuke.

"If you beat me, I'll leave you alone with stuff like that. For an entire month. Unless I win that right back in another sparring match."

Sasuke looked at her, then quickly nodded.

Naruto grinned, now that was an incentive. He would get a kiss from Sakura!

"Of course, if I win, it's the other way around." She grinned wickedly, cracking her knuckles.

"It's also first come first serve. Whoever beats me has one. The other hasn't beaten me and thus hasn't won anything." She raised her hand, and waved them over.

Naruto looked at Sasuke, who looked back. Both boys narrowed their eyes.

He would have to beat Sakura... oh he would have to beat her. But he didn't want to...

He jumped to the side. Damn she was throwing kunai again. "Are you two coming? Or do you want some alone time?" She taunted them. "I can just see it, Naruto holding Sasuke tenderly, Sasuke breathlessly moaning Naruto's name..."

Sasuke glared, and sprinted towards her. Not if Naruto had anything to say about it thought. He sprinted towards Sakura himself.

"Yaaaaaah" He screamed, he would be faster than Sasuke. Sakura just stood there, not bother by the two boys in the slightest.

Sasuke was a few seconds behind Naruto, not enough to reach Sakura before him. He grinned, he wouldn't have to hurt Sakura-chan, just restrain her.

Sakura hadn't even moved though, she looked kinda frightened actually.

Well, he thought, as he tackled her, she shouldn't have taunted them then. He felt a faint resistance for a second, before the illusory Sakura disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Sasuke tried to stop himself, he was desperately attempting to turn around, wheeling his arms, but his momentum carried him into Naruto. He did managed to turn the fall into a quick roll however. Sasuke recovered easily and looked around.

Naruto on the other hand had his face buried in the ground by Sasuke.

"Where are you coward?" Sasuke shouted.

"Sasuke?" Naruto whimpered.

--o--

"What?" Sasuke asked, annoyed. He looked around, scanning the area for Sakura's actual position.

"Explosive tag!" Naruto shouted as he sprang up and started running.

Sasuke didn't wait for confirmation, he jumped forward, away form Naruto and possible burning death.

Right into a barrage of Kunai. Nimbly he dodged most of them. However one managed to nick him, a shallow cut, but annoying.

"Point for me Sasuke-Kun." Sakura singsonged from the trees.

"Foolish." Sasuke snorted, his fingers flew into seals. "Katon Grand Fireball!"

The fireball ripped into the trees, obliterating anything in it's path, leaving afterimages in Sasuke's eyes. He smirked, that should have flushed her out.

Causally he whirled around and backhanded Sakura.

"Urg." She grunted, as she went flying.

"Pathetic." Sasuke snorted, when Sakura stayed down. "That was all? Honestly..."

He causally walked up to her, smirking as Naruto scampered over to Sakura. He hadn't hit her that hard, she should be up in...

He jumped back, before he got halfway to Sakura. He wouldn't make that mistake again. She didn't play fair. Why wouldn't she play dead?

Naruto shook Sakura worriedly, but from where he stood Sasuke could see her face and her smirk.

Sakura whirled around, grabbed Naruto's collar and dragged him down, holding a Kunai to his throat.

"You are out." She said in triumph. Naruto stood there, eyes wide, mouth open. Then his expression fell.

"Oh..." He looked as if he was about to cry...

Sakura lowered her Kunai. "Oh come on Naruto, it isn't that bad after a..."

She stopped talking, when she noticed Naruto holding a Kunai of his own to her throat.

"Well, I suppose you earned that date." She leaned forward and gave him a kiss.

Sasuke felt his eye twitch, why would she...

Naruto dropped his Kunai... oh come on, were they going to play that game till they were naked?

"Or not." She giggled.

"Uhh..." Naruto was still out of it.

"Still, you got me fair and square. So one date for you." She said standing up. Then she looked at Sasuke.

"But I'm sorely disappointed in you. Such a prime opportunity and all you did was watch! You could have joined in."

Yeah, as if. "Are you done making out? Can we continue to train?" He sneered.

"Be my guest." She dropped a little sphere. He followed it's descend, up to the point it exploded.

"Gah!" He shouted, as the light burned itself into his retinas. He closed his eyes, that hurt damn it.

When he opened them again Sakura was gone. If he had the byankuan he could still find her. Without it... he whirled around. Nothing.

Somebody giggled behind. He whirled around again. Same results.

Next time the giggle came from his left. He shot a quick look, but saw nothing. Throwing you voice could be useful. Who could have know. Maybe he should have paid more attention at the academy, when they discussed it.

"Come out already Sakura, we aren't playing hide and seek." He shouted. Even if he doubted that it would draw her out. His best bet was to stay out in the open, where he could see her approach.

"Oh why should it? You make such a tempting target out there." He voice came from above! He threw a kunai without even looking.

"Ohh missed me!" The voice came from the left again. He still had no idea where she hid.

He narrowed his eyes, like Zabusa she was playing mind-games. Make him worry, make him sloppy. He dodged a kunai, from behind. But didn't bother turning around. She wouldn't be there.

"Give up already?" Her voice asked.

"No just not bothering with decoys." He replied easily, slouching slightly. He cracked his neck. "This is kinda boring, but about what I expected, from a weak fangirl."

Again the giggle. "Come now, I don't have your massive ego or other defects. I'm not so easily baited." Another kunai, from the left and one from the right...

He caught both of them. This was bad, she set traps as well. This would confuse her position further.

The longer he stood here, doing nothing, the more time she had to draw him into her real trap.

Naruto stood to the side, watching. He was evidently bored, judging by his yawn, but he kept his mouth shut, surprising that.

Two more kunai, front and back, the one on his back was thrown form the top of a tree. A trap or the real Sakura? No matter, she would tire herself out fast, if she kept moving like that.

Ok not really, even she had enough stamina to keep this up for some time.

Suddenly he was thrown forward by an explosion behind him. Screaming in pain, he still managed to land on his feet on roll with the shock-wave. Wobbling he managed to get to his feet. He didn't stop, instead he ran forward at full tilt. The explosion had rattled him, but he wasn't out, he gritted his teeth. Not by a long shot.

Kunai embedded themselves in the threes beside him, he had to dodge some himself. A quick glance over his shoulder confirmed that Sakura was hot on his heels. A wild smile on her lips.

He grinned himself, this was fun and she had just made a fatal mistake.

He stopped, whirled around and ran towards her. She might have made it, if she had stayed hidden. His sharingan sprang into existence, she might even have managed to fool him with that bunshin. But the kunai came from above!

He ignored the illusion, instead he jumped. "Gottcha!" He shouted, flinging four kunai at Sakura.

She dodged, of course, but he didn't let up. He wouldn't give her the opportunity to hide again.

"You wouldn't hurt my would you?" She asked, as she fled.

"I will enjoy it!" He shouted back.

"Well, I look forward to my punishment then, master." She glanced over her shoulder with a leer.

"Wha..." No. Focus! Don't let her distract you. He pushed himself harder, catching up.

She dropped some more flash bangs. He snorted, it wouldn't work again. Closing his eyes he follower he footsteps.

He realized his error almost immediately, flash-bang. The explosion deafened him, allowing her to escape again.

"Dammit!"

"Sorry, better luck next time." She replied. From somewhere around him.

"Aren't you bored of that game by now?" He asked.

"Not really." came her reply.

He growled.

"We, however, are." Another female voice interrupted their game.

Sasuke whirled around. The second examiner stood there, besides Kakashi and Naruto.

"Yes, while this was entertaining, I think it's time for some real training. No?" Kakashi said.

"We aren't finished." Sasuke muttered, just as Sakura appeared besides him.

"Just call it a draw brat." Anko glared at him.

Sasuke looked away. At least he wouldn't have to go on a date with Sakura. Pity.

Dammit. Where did these thoughts come from?

--o--

Libido smirked, as he ran from the Itachi's, since he got that sword he had grown stronger and stronger.

Which wasn't all that hard, considering how weak he was. But he could strike a lot more effectively now. And he was faster, kill an Itachi, run away, easy.

Of course, he looked over his shoulder. For every Itachi he killed, it seemed ten new ones took it's place.

But he wouldn't give up. If only Pride hadn't wizened up, he would still have an ally.

And so Libido ran, followed by a silent, merciless army of Itachis.

--o--

Sakura smiled at Anko, even if she didn't feel quite as confident as she let on. Sasuke's punch had hurt, quite a bit in fact.

And he nearly had her at the end. If he hadn't made that mistake...

"So how do we start?" Sakura asked, she couldn't rely on where she was. She needed to get stronger, expand her repertoire.

"Eager aren't we?" Kakashi chuckled.

Naruto kept his mouth shut and glanced at Anko nervously. Understandable really.

"Well, while Kakashi kicks those two fools into shape, you will tell me what you know about poisons, antidotes and the like." Anko said. "If I don't like the answers... we'll get creative." She leered suggestively at Sakura.

Sakura shuddered, this was going to be fun.

"Well, come on Kakashi! We have some training to do. Away from the crazy snake lady." Naruto dragged Kakashi away. Sasuke followed, glancing back once or twice, hiding his own apprehension quite well, only the slightest twitch betrayed how uncomfortable he was.

Anko watched them go, chuckling quietly.

"Quite the display you put on." She finally said.

"It was? I figured it was abysmal." Sakura answered, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh it was. Still, pretty interesting. If you had some poison available, you could have had him a few times."

Sakura grinned. "That's why you are here sensei."

Anko nodded and looked at Sakura, searching for something.

"So, tell me. How much do you actually know about the various types of poison?" She finally asked.

Sakura shrugged. "Next to nothing. I now about as much as the next genin."

Anko hung her head. "But you use a deadly poison, without knowing the risks, the proper precautions and without knowing if it even is the poison it was sold as. Smart girl, real smart."

Sakura felt her face heat up. "Umm..." She didn't say anything, there wasn't anything to be said.

Suddenly Anko lashed out, cutting her cheek with a kunai. Sakura jumped back, holding her cheek.

"What the hell? I'm not Naruto you crazy bitch!" She shouted, glaring at the aforementioned crazy bitch.

She stopped and brought her hand in front of her eyes. She looked at the blood, then at Anko, who was grinning madly.

"You didn't..." Sakura muttered, fear creeping into her voice.

"I did." Anko nodded. She pulled out a scroll and tossed it to Sakura. "You have two hours, before the pain becomes unbearable. Another hour before it's crippling. If you can mix an antidote before then I'll continue the training. If not... you'll wake up in the hospital and you'll need to find somebody else to teach you about using poisons."

She cooked her head. "Well, that or you manage to reproduce the poison and tag me with it. I suppose that would make up for your failure... are you listening to me?"

Sakura had opened the scroll and was skimming over it. She would need at least two herbs. Some water, oil...

"You should be able to find everything you need in this training ground." Anko said causally, leaning against a tree. "No running to the hospital." She smirked.

Sakura glared at her but nodded. "The poison is slow acting?"

"Of course, but the more you move..."

"The faster it spreads. Got it." Sakura looked at the scroll again. If she remembered correctly, which she did, alcohol notwithstanding, the first weed was...

--o--

Naruto watched as Kakashi made Sasuke throw a kunai on string again and again. He was teaching Sasuke to use ninja wires.

Naruto had to train water walking. While Sasuke didn't know that either, his chakra control was apparently good enough to learn ninja wires first. Naruto found that utterly unfair, but he kept quite. Who knew? He might end up with the crazy snake lady if he said anything.

He was sure Kakashi had plans like that, the way he looked in the direction Sakura and Anko were, when he talked to Naruto.

"How's it going Naruto?" Kakashi walked up to him.

"Ehh, I just don't get the hang of it sensei." Naruto said, hip deep in the small river.

Kakashi chuckled. "Well it's harder on running water. You need to adapt your chakra flow to the movement of the water." He stepped onto the river. "As I said, if you want to keep floating on the water you need to control the flow of chakra constantly. However, on still water, like a lake or a pool, the water doesn't change much. So usually that is used to train novices."

Kakashi winked at him. "But I believe you are more than capable of learning it on moving water. You should be better for it too."

"Yeah!" Naruto shouted. He would show them what he could do. He generated as much chakra as possible an expelled it from his feet.

Wow... obviously, if you applied a lot of force on a relatively small area, that force would have to interact with the surrounding area, thus causing either the target to give in, or if the target was stronger than the force, or the force to evenly applied, the force would reflect on the one who applied it.

For water walking that meant, if you applied enough chakra fast enough, the chakra pushed you up far faster and higher than anticipated.

Naruto shook his head and pulled himself upright again. That landing had hurt. And what was it with all the big words?

Sakura jogged by, her head moving from side to side, pausing at Naruto's position for a second before she smiled and moved towards him.

"Thanks Naruto." She went to her knees besides him, plucked a flower and moved on.

Weird, wasn't she supposed to train?

"Watch were you are throwing that asshole!" Came her shout from the direction Sasuke was training.

"Watch were you are going idiot!" Came Sasuke's equally loud reply.

"Is there a reason Sakura ignores anything not directly in front of her?" Kakashi asked Anko, who followed Sakura slowly.

"I may have poisoned her with a rather weak, but painful, poison. She has three hours to mix an antidote."

Naruto moved away from the crazy, sadistic, cruel, lady. And she was teaching Sakura!

He shuddered. Maybe he should rethink his dating prospects. If Sakura took too many habits from Anko... scary.

--o--

Sakura suppressed a groan. The poison had made itself known an hour ago, it had stated slowly, just a slight feeling of discomfort, but the longer she searched for that last herb, the more painful it became. By now her entire body seemed to burn over a low flame.

She glanced at Sasuke busy with the ninja wire. Damn how she wished she could train like that. The slow burn of tired muscles would be infinitely preferable to the hot pain of this slow poison.

Her eyes widened as she finally found the herb, Firecrown. Now she needed to, a spike of pain drove her to her knees. And she gasped soundlessly. Damn, she had spend only one and a half hours... moving around. Shit, the poison had spread faster, much faster than anticipated.

She grit her teeth and pulled herself up again. The spike of pain was gone, for now. But it would return, she had no doubt about that.

She pulled out the small apothecary set Anko had given her and started grinding the herbs into a thin paste. She had to hurry, another spike of pain shot up her body, she couldn't even cry out.

Luckily the herbs stayed in the mortar, otherwise she would have to start again.

--o--

Anko watched, as the girl shuddered in obvious pain. The spikes were coming faster now, every ten seconds or so. It was impressive, the way she soldiered on. Anko honestly hadn't expected her to come this far.

She was nearly done, of course, Sakura opened her mouth in a silent scream, it was questionable whether the girl could finish it, with the poison making every movement nearly impossible.

"Wasn't that a bit harsh?" Kakashi asked besides her.

Anko glared at him. "And how will she learn to respect the poison she uses if she doesn't know how dangerous they can be? She needs to be careful. This poison is harmless, it only causes intense pain. What if she hit herself with a deadly one?" She sniffed contemptuously at the fool besides her. "Besides don't you have your own students to worry about?"

She looked at the Uchiha, who by now was flinging the kunai with something resembling accuracy, first in front of him, then in midair towards his back. In a straight line of course, ok nearly straight line.

"Hmm?" Kakashi looked up from his little book, that had appeared out of nowhere. He looked over at Naruto, standing precariously on the river, slowly drifting away from his starting position.

"I think they are doing well enough by themselves. Really, there isn't much I can do they won't pick up by themselves."

Anko snorted. "They won't pass the chunin exam like that."

Kakashi nodded. "Good. They aren't ready for those responsibilities." He looked at Sakura. "Maybe she is, but I rather doubt it. And I would prefer she doesn't get those responsibilities yet."

Anko looked at the genin, nodding slowly. "I suppose I see where you are coming from. Want them to have a bit more time before becoming real ninja?" She suppressed a giggle. "Or do you simply want to keep your cute little genin a while longer?"

Kakashi cooked his head, blinked and then smiled happily. "That's it exactly. I like them."

Anko laughed deeply. "How funny, have you finally found something important besides those orange books of yours?"

Kakashi shrugged and pointed at Sakura. "She's done, seems she passed the test."

"What?" Anko whirled around, to get a look at the girl, who was examining the scroll and the contents of her mortar. Then the girl nodded, wiping away tears and snot. She was bowed over and Anko could hear her grind her teeth. But she was still checking her antidote.

Anko, was over there in a flash. The girl couldn't have done too much wrong, but better save than sorry.

"Let me have a look." She said, as she grabbed the mortar from Sakura.

The girl just looked blankly at her hand, not moving at all. She didn't even notice Anko, focused entirely on the antidote.

Anko gave it a quick once over, color was ok, smell was right, consistency was a bit off, but within the parameters, she took a finger full into her mouth and immediately spit it out. Taste was horrible, as expected.

Well. It looked as if the girl had managed to create the antidote. She looked down, the girl had keeled over, whimpering quietly, rocking back and forth.

That lesson seemed learned and learned well. Good. She pulled the girl into a sitting position and fed her the antidote.

"Good work kid. Tomorrow I'll teach you how to make that poison." She grinned. She had a student!

Kakashi walked up behind her. "When will she recover?" He asked.

Anko frowned, it would take a few hours at least. She wouldn't be able to walk today. "Better get her into bed, she'll need a bit of rest."

Kakashi nodded. "Well, tomorrow I'll have her learn with me first then. You can have her after we are done. She wanted to learn to use the ninja wire as well, and she won't be able to learn that if she's in bed, recovering from being poisoned again."

Anko glared at the man, this was a needed lesson. A lesson she would repeat if Sakura showed to have forgotten it. But she doubted that would be the case. If the girl could mix an antidote that fast, under excruciating pain, she would remember to not poison herself.

"Fine. But you're overreacting." She turned around and stalked away.

"Hmm I am, am I?" Kakashi muttered behind her. Asshole.

Anko giggled giddily, once she was out of earshot. She had a student! Not officially, nobody wanted to give her one. She wanted to blame it on them being assholes, and barring her from it because of Orochimaru. But the truth was, her methods were... well not appreciated in the leaf. She might be a wee bit too eager.

But Kakashi, for all his reservations about it did allow her to teach the girl. Maybe she would have to do something nice for him.

Wasn't there this grand Icha Icha sale with the collectors box? She would have to find out if he already owned one.

--o--

Kakashi watched Anko, as she skipped away. There was something deeply disturbing about that.

He picked Sakura up, who had finally fallen unconscious. Good thing too, the antidote would take a bit to work.

"Will she be alright?" Naruto asked, looking at Kakashi eyes shining with worry.

Sasuke stood besides him, expression impassive, but the occasional glance showed he cared as well.

"She'll be fine by tomorrow." Kakashi placated the boys. "It was just painful, no permanent damage." He smiled reassuringly. Or at least there better be no permanent damage. His little genin was damaged enough, thank you very much.

The boys nodded and Sasuke turned around. Naruto stood a second longer before shaking his head and turning around as well.

"No date again..." He muttered. "Almost as if she's doing it on purpose."

Kakashi blinked, and checked Sakura over again. She was out of it. But he wouldn't put it past her to poison herself, to get out of a date she didn't want to go on.

In any case, he had to get her home, report to the hokage, then figure out what to teach Naruto and Sasuke. They had taken to their training with the usual determination and were already well on their way to mastering the techniques.

He really looked forward to teaching Sakura on the wires. What she would be able to do with them... he grinned. It should be very interesting.

He whistled as he walked home, Sakura slung over his shoulder, Icha Icha in one hand.

--o--

Another chapter, yay. Hope you enjoyed. And again, no dark stuff... oh well, it will come soon enough, I think.


	6. Dealing with Death 2

Expectations of Development

--o--

Dealing with death 2

--o--

Sakura snuck from tree to tree, carefully watching every direction. She hurt all over. Every few seconds a new wave of pain crashed over her.

But she had to keep moving, or the ones hunting her would catch up. She shuddered, once they caught up...

She moved on, taking whatever cover she could find. She had no idea where Sasuke and Naruto were. Hopefully somewhere save. She couldn't even remember what had happened to separate them.

She broke into a clearing and stopped in shock. In front of her stood Naruto and Sasuke. But their eyes were empty, faces slack and expressionless. Slowly, ever so slowly they toppled over, falling face first into the forest floor. Several kunai sticking out of their back.

"Hehehe..." Wheezing, rattling laughter filled the clearing.

Three sound nin slowly shambled into view, the two boys had a scratch on the face each, the girl had several puncture wounds on her limbs, one on her throat. She laughed, even though no sound escaped her mouth.

"Hehehe, it hurts, doesn't it?" Her mouth moved, but the sound seemed to appear in Sakura's head. "Seeing your comrades die in front of you?"

The two boys leered at Sakura and slowly pulled out their kunai.

"We'll enjoy teaching you some humility bitch!" One of them wheezed, his throat ruined from the poison Sakura used to kill him.

"Yeah, maybe you like these rods better!" The other sneered, waving his kunai at her.

Sakura backed up, she had no idea how they came back from the dead, but she doubted poison would work against them again.

"You are dead." She said, voice shaking with terror.

"And now we're back. Thanks to our master." The girl said.

"Kukuku, aren't they precious?" A voice whispered from behind Sakura.

She whirled around. A rain kunoichi stood behind her. A second later the kunoichi's face had peeled off, revealing a far more masculine face beneath. "A pity about the Uchiha, but I can use his eyes even so." Orochimaru leered at Sasuke's corps.

Sakura sprang to the side, and started running. She couldn't win, Sasuke and Naruto were dead, poison wouldn't work against whatever Orochimaru did to those three. Alone and probably poisoned, judging by the constant pain hammering her.

She sprinted through the forest, never locking back. Dodging trees, roots and the odd animal.

After a few minutes she looked back, nobody was pursuing her.

Desperately trying to catch her breath she leaned against a tree. The pain came faster now, almost every second sharp spikes of pain drove through her.

"Though you could escape us?" A voice whispered into her ear.

She sprang up, eyes wide in panic, a kunai appeared in her hand, while she lashed out against the voice.

She hit flesh and drove the kunai in, it sunk up to her wrist.

The boy she had hit looked down, at the kunai sticking out of his chest, then up at her, grinning madly.

"Sorry bitch, not nearly enough to kill me again." He drove his own kunai into her stomach. "Only one free shot."

"But how about we take you up on your offer?" The other boy slammed his own kunai into her back.

"Yeah, I'll enjoy watching slut!" The girl laughed, as she flung another kunai into Sakura.

Sakura screamed, the pain was agonizing, and they would...

She looked around.

She was in the hospital. Moonlight filled her room, but there were no sound nin. And she may or may not have screamed. She tried to remember what had happened, but the only clear memory was of the forest of death. Killing those genin. Then she had participated in the prelims and won... but she overdosed on soldier pills...

"Ah you're awake. Good. I would hate for you to sleep through this." Sakura slowly turned her head. In the door to her room stood Temari, the wound in her stomach bleed freely, one hand held entrails back, the other held a kunai.

"I think I'll start cutting up you face. Your Sasuke won't want you afterward, will he?" Temari smirked maliciously, slowly stepping closer.

Sakura, frantically tried to get out of the bed, but her muscles didn't obey her. All she managed was to wiggle away from Temari, who slowly but surely made her way over.

"You can't escape bitch. I will get you, no matter what." Temari said, closing the remaining distance.

Her left hand shot forward and grabbed Sakura's arm, holding her, while her right hand reared back for the stab.

Sakura watched in horrified fascination as Temari's entrails spilled out.

"You like watching that?" Temari chuckled. "You'll get to watch it on your own."

The kunai came down, and slashed open her stomach. Blinding pain stole her vision for a second. Then Sakura could see herself...

--o--

Sakura shot out of her bed, slammed into the door of her room, rattled futilely on the handle, before she managed to open the door, and made for the bath. She practically ripped the door open and dove for the toilet.

Wet retching filled the small room for a good minute.

It was replaced with quite whimpering.

Sakura slowly made it out of the bathroom, leaning on the walls for support.

Almost immediately she turned around and brushed her teeth.

Stumbling she made her way down, towards the kitchen. Her head hurt, though thankfully her stomach had settled somewhat. Getting poisoned was apparently worse than getting drunk...

She looked at the clock, 5am.

Far too early, but what could you do? And she would rather not go back to bed.

She made herself some tea, she had absolutely no desire for anything resembling food at the moment. Her dream flashed through her mind and for a second she thought she would throw up again.

But her stomach remained calm, so she watched the kettle as it heated up.

It was a pretty shitty way to wake up she decided, while rummaging for painkillers.

On the other hand, she was fairly certain that nightmares meant she had a conscience , so that was good. Now if only the nightmares didn't return she would feel pretty happy.

She doubted it would be that easy though. With a sigh she poured herself a cup of tea and downed a painkiller.

A look at the clock confirmed that it was barely half past five. Her stomach growled, reminding her that she hadn't eaten since training started yesterday and that she had just emptied whatever was left.

The thought of food didn't cause any nausea luckily, which meant she could eat something.

Smiling weakly she set of to make breakfast.

Repression was such a useful thing she mused, while gathering some pots.

--o--

Naruto arrived at the training ground, yawning slightly. Worry about Sakura had kept him up longer than planned and he had stayed up late to try and get water-walking already.

Not that he didn't have enough energy to pull an allnighter, but sleep was important after all.

Sasuke had joined him, smirking and all superior and said something to the effect of having mastered the ninja wires.

Easy for him to say, he had used them before, he didn't start from zero. If Naruto didn't have such problems with water-walking...

And the bastard made far more headway into it than he did too. Far faster as well... it just wasn't fair!

But he would simply work harder! And he would beat the bastard, so there.

A few low grunts alerted him that maybe he wasn't as alone as he thought. He looked around confused, it was only six, who was up this early in the morning?

A bit of pink hair answered that question.

"Sakura? What are you doing here?" He asked.

She stopped her push ups, letting herself fall to the floor, where she stayed, trembling slightly.

"What does it look like moron?" She asked, glaring at him over her shoulder.

Cringing he looked away. "Sorry, I just meant what are you doing here so early?"

She sighed. "No reason to apologize, I should have guessed that's what you meant."

He looked at her again. She had rolled over and was staring at the sky.

"I'm just a bit cranky." She continued.

Naruto wisely kept his mouth shut, and didn't ask when she was not. That way waited only pain.

"I didn't sleep well, the poison gave me a headache, it's far too early and a measly one hundred push ups totally wiped me out." She counted, not moving an inch. "It's kind of a shitty morning."

"Uhh..." He replied intelligently.

Groaning Sakura rolled over again and pushed herself up.

"I'll help you train Sakura!" He nearly shouted.

Sakura looked at him, a lecherous grin spreading on her face. Naruto took a step back, weirded out.

"Uhh what's that look for?" He asked nervously.

"So what kind of training did you have in mind, hmm? Stamina maybe?" She asked.

"Well, yeah." He answered, slightly confused. "Maybe a bit of sparring... maybe you can give me some tips on waterwalking." He shrugged.

Sakura shook her head giggling. "Suppose you wouldn't read those."

"Read what?" He asked, Sakura really confused him sometimes. Well, most girls did. Guys were easy to understand. Beat em up and whatever problem they and you had was forgotten. Girls on the other hand wanted all kinds of weird things...

"Nothing important. Your plan sounds good. Let's start with waterwalking ok? I need to recover a bit."

Naruto nodded happily, a broad grin on his face. "Sure thing Sakura."

--o--

Kakashi watched the two genin as they sparred with each other, Sakura managed to land far more hits on Naruto than the other way around. However Kakashi doubted that Naruto was even fazed. Her punches lacked the strength necessary to deal any real damage to him.

Of course, if she had poisoned kunai massive amounts of damage weren't really necessary, a simply cut could end the game.

And while Naruto did hold back some, judging by the way Sakura bounced back from any punches he landed. She would be able to take a hit or two. In fact, she looked as if the punches barely bothered her at all.

Maybe being in excruciating pain due to the poison helped with her pain tolerance.

"Ohh look at them go. Aren't they cute?" Anko cooed. "But we are missing somebody. Aren't we?"

Kakashi looked at her, eyebrow raised. "We are? I thought all of them are present?"

Anko frowned for a second, then nodded. "Ah he just arrived. I suppose we can start the training then?"

Kakashi watched his students. "So eager to torture young impressionable minds?" He asked, managing to keep the worry out of his voice.

"You know me, nothing gets me going faster than inflicting some pain on people." Anko purred.

He could hear the pain in her voice though, barely. He looked at her, then followed her gaze.

She watched Sakura intently, following every punch, block and dodge.

"You really want to train her don't you?" He finally asked.

Startled Anko whipped her head around and looked at him, eyes wide for a second. "What gives you that idea?" She asked, forcing her mask of happy sadism on again.

"Hmm nothing, nothing must have been mistaken." He waved the question off dismissively.

--o--

Sasuke watched impassively as Sakura and Naruto attempted to beat each other into submission.

He had to say he was impressed that Sakura could land as many punches as she did. But then, Naruto was holding back, so it wasn't as if it was all that surprising.

The two of them ignored him totally, focused only on each other.

They may have noticed him and just choose to ignore him. Had he come upon them like this before the chunin exam, he would have said that was impossible, as Sakura would have broken the fight off as soon as he came into her field of vision.

But this new Sakura... she would continue to fight with Naruto in favor of annoying him.

He smirked. That was one of the reasons he liked the new Sakura better than the old one. Causally he dodged a kunai carelessly flung into his direction.

They really should be more careful.

His eyes widened in shock as he dodged another one. And the next one, frantically avoiding kunai after kunai.

Damn he should have paid better attention! He couldn't stop the grin spreading on his face though, as he met Naruto's charge head on, it was his only option, Sakura kept him cordoned in with a barrage of kunai.

His Sharingan spinning he met Naruto's charge, kunai clashed violently and he had trouble to hold his ground. Naruto had build up far more speed and if Sasuke hadn't rooted himself with chakra he would have been thrown down.

"You'll have to do better." He baited Naruto.

"Heh it's two against one idiot." Naruto replied, throwing himself to the side.

Sasuke threw his arm up, barely deflecting the kunai Sakura had thrown behind Naruto.

She followed almost immediately afterward, more kunai in hand, an evil grin on her face.

But Sasuke wasn't foolish enough to attack her, instead he jumped back.

"Damn!" Naruto cursed, as Sakura jumped over the leg he attempted to kick Sasuke with. Sasuke snorted derisively.

"Nice trick, you training for the circus or are you going to attack me?" He mocked them.

He shut up when Sakura flung her kunai at him, still in full pursuit, Naruto still tried to regain his bearings.

Now was his chance, while one of them was out for a few seconds.

He met Sakura's mad rush, slicing his kunai down. But Sakura easily avoided the attack, and brought her own kunai to bear, attempting to slice his stomach open.

But instead of trying to regain his balance Sasuke threw himself forward, rolling over his shoulder. He stopped himself, and pushed off the ground, kicking at Sakura in passing. A brief glance confirmed that Naruto was still on his way to him, shouting something about helping Sakura, but it would take at least a few more seconds.

Sakura had dodged his kick leaning back, but now she presented a very easy target, rowing her arms in an attempt to keep standing.

"Cute windmill Sakura." He said, his fist flying towards her face.

Sakura's expression, as she watched the fist close in, was hilarious. All crossed eyes and surprise.

With a loud thwack his fist met her face, sending her flying.

He turned towards Naruto, who charged him, murder in his eyes, and voice. Seriously did he have to scream like that? What kind of ninja was so loud?

Pain exploded across the back of his head, and he stumbled forward, right into Naruto's fist.

The punch whirled him around, to face another Naruto, who gleefully reintroduced his fist to Sasuke's face.

This time Sasuke went flying.

Naruto's shadowclone provided little resistance as Sasuke crashed into him. Still some cushioning was better than none, he thought weakly.

He groaned as he picked himself up. Sakura stood besides Naruto, a grin on her bloodied face. Naruto grinned as well.

Sasuke wiped the blood from his own face. He didn't bother fighting his own grin.

"Nice. Of course, even together you can't match me." He sneered at them, and held his hand out in a come hither gesture.

"But we are just warming up Sasuke baby." Sakura returned his sneer. "Besides, who was hit three times, and who was hit once?"

Naruto laughed openly. "Yeah, we admit it bastard, we are a lot better than you."

Sasuke felt his pride surge for a moment, however he wouldn't fall for a transparent ploy like that ever again. His sharingan activated again and he carefully watched his surroundings. There was no way that another clone would get him from behind.

"Yeah, let's finish this. And afterward we go on that date I owe you Naruto." Sakura cheered.

Sasuke frowned for a second, but he quickly replaced the frown with a grin.

"You sure about that Sakura? He's gonna eat you out of your mission pay."

Sakura shrugged. "He's paying obviously."

"Yeah! I know how to threat a lady." Naruto nodded.

"Aww, so nice of you Naruto." Sakura cooed. "Much better than the virgin over there." She waved dismissively.

Sasuke snorted. "Seriously? Do you expect me to fall for that?" He shook his head. "That ploy was old when the Hokage was born."

"Maybe, but it's still pretty effective as a distraction." Sakura smirked, as the shadowclone at her side disappeared.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. As if he hadn't heard the two approaching him.

Sharingan blazing he whirled around, threw a kunai at Sakura and himself at Naruto.

With the sharingan active it proved laughably easy to avoid Naruto's punches and kicks. Naruto on the other hand barely avoided Sasuke's counters.

Sakura did avoid the kunai. Even so, she held back...

He ducked beneath a punch, and threw himself into a spinning kick, throwing Naruto back. Positioning himself to face Sakura, the real one, who threw several kunai at him. He deflected one into the shadowclone, dispelling it.

Sakura threw two more, eyes wide in panic, he didn't bother dodging them, they went wide anyway.

Of course, Sakura's smirk tipped him off that maybe he should have dodged. The slight tug at his chest confirmed his suspicion.

Sakura pulled at the ninja wire, he could feel the kunai return in a circle. Behind him he could hear Naruto return, cutting off his retreat.

"Not enough!" He shouted and continued his charge.

Again her eyes widened. This time in surprise and this time it was genuine.

She backpedaled desperately but Sasuke reached her too fast. True she may have managed to bind his arms, but he still had his legs.

A brutal kick send Sakura flying and the wires went slack.

He whirled around to face Naruto again, but instead of the expected boy twenty shadowclones came down on him.

He couldn't entirely suppress his whimper, this would hurt. Still, he wouldn't go down without a fight.

--o--

Sakura rubbed her jaw as she watched Naruto attempt to beat Sasuke into submission. She grinned, then changed her mind, Sasuke packed quite a kick.

And he was the better fighter, the number of Naruto clones diminished rapidly. Even if Sasuke got hit quite often, and even if Naruto could keep this up till Sasuke dropped from exhaustion.

"Oh not joining in again?" A voice asked from behind her.

She didn't bother turning around. Anko was very memorable after all.

"Nah, we were just finishing anyway." Sakura shrugged. "No point interfering at this point. Besides, Sasuke is done for."

As she said it the last Naruto was dispelled and reveal a battered Sasuke, who nevertheless grinned proudly.

"Nice work Sasuke." Kakashi praised the boy. "Though I suppose if Naruto wanted to he could just send more clones in and finish you off..."

"Hahaha. Hear that bastard? I beat you!" Naruto jumped out from behind a tree.

A stone connected with Naruto's forehead, but bounced harmlessly of his headband.

"If that had been a kunai..." Sasuke smirked at Naruto, turned around and walked towards Sakura and their teachers.

"Hey!" Naruto shouted, as he followed Sasuke.

Sakura looked at Anko and Kakashi.

"Uhh I know this may be considered rude... but umm could you make sure I leave the training ground conscious this time? I owe Naruto a date and I would prefer to get that done with at some point this year."

Anko shrugged. "Should have been faster with the antidote then."

"If you don't want to go on a date with me..." Naruto muttered.

"Aww I want to go on a date with you." Sakura turned around, he wouldn't guilt trip her. "You would rather go on a date sooner than later right?"

Naruto considered it, cocking his head to the side. Sakura slid beside him and whispered into his ear.

"Besides, I don't want to be carried off unconscious again. Who knows what Anko would do to me if I were at her mercy..."

Naruto considered some more. A trickle of blood escaped from his nose.

Sakura giggled, then rapped him on the head. "Get your mind out of the gutter Uzumaki." She ordered.

"Well, I can't promise anything." Kakashi said. "However this time you start training with me" He looked at the river. "We start with the ninja wire. I have no doubt you would take to water walking like... well a fish takes to water."

Sakura nodded and skipped over to Kakashi.

"Anko will supervise you two training waterwalking." He continued.

Anko grinned at the two boys, who twitched and carefully avoided looking at her.

"Come on, come on. This will be soo much fun. And as an added incentive, every time you sink I throw a kunai at you." She cackled.

Sakura looked on as the two boys were dragged towards the river.

"Will they be alright Kakashi-Sensei?" She asked, her voice wavering slightly with worry.

"Well... we can hope..." He muttered.

He looked down at her and pulled out some ninja wire.

"Sasuke already had some experience using the wire. That made training him rather easy. How much experience do you have?"

She pulled out her own wire. "Not much, I took the basic control techniques, how the wire moves when thrown, how to make it return a kunai and so on. Chakra transference... that sort of thing. We didn't get into controlling the wire with chakra."

Kakashi nodded. "Well, those are the basics, if you have them down you already have most of the work done. And with your chakra control you should be able to control the wire a bit better than even Sasuke."

He threw the kunai at the end of the wire, then tugged at the wire and the kunai returned to his hand.

"That's without adding any chakra to control the wire, what happened when I tugged the wire?"

She studied the wire, his hand and the kunai.

"When you throw the kunai it moves in one direction, when you tug at the wire it stops and moves in the opposite direction. That's only possible though because there is a weight at the other side of the wire. If the wire didn't have the kunai you could tug at it, but the effect would be rather limited."

Kakashi nodded. "That's right, so how would you go about controlling the wire with chakra?"

Sakura rubbed her chin, it was still a bit sore. "Even without the weight of the kunai at the end, you have more control over the wire than with a string. The more weight it has the easier it is to control in mid air... but... hmm"

She coated her own wire in chakra, then threw the kunai at the end.

"It's kinda... if I weight the end..." The wire fell down as the chakra concentrated at the end, adding some more weight to the kunai. "No... I would need to be able to hold it up... the wire would need to be solid..." she muttered, narrowing her eyes.

She pulled the kunai back and threw the wire again.

She was vaguely aware of Kakashi watching her, but he didn't say anything while she tried to work out the trick with the wire.

She threw the kunai again, this time she turned the chakra into a thin rigid shell, kinda like a henge.

She doubted any student really understood just how powerful the henge really was. Not that most would ever be able to capitalize on it. To use it like Naruto would require insane amounts of chakra, especially turning into something smaller required so much chakra...

Bigger was easier. All you needed was to create a thin layer of semi solid chakra. Not at all chakra intensive. However you could also create a full layer of chakra, making the henge far more solid and nearly impossible to disrupt. That would of course cost you more chakra depending on how thick the layer would be.

If you shrank yourself... well, there were similarities to summoning contracts or transport seals there, the mass had to go somewhere. You had to send it there, where-ever there was, and since you couldn't just rip the body apart you had to send your whole body away, then create the shell you wanted to create.

Funnily enough it wasn't actually difficult to archive that. Chakra was weird that way, however it burned through chakra reserves like you wouldn't believe, Naruto could probably turn himself into a little pebble... well a boulder slightly smaller than him, a pebble would actually be easier since it required less chakra than a boulder...

And damn it she had to focus on the wire not on the basic theory of henge.

"You need help?" Kakashi asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Nah, just thinking." She replied, focusing on the wire again, the chakra had dissipated once she lost concentration, and dropped to the forest floor. However, if she coated it again, and added the shell structure to the chakra... the wire sprang up from the ground and hovered in the air.

She frowned, it was heavy, but if she reduced the chakra slightly... it continued to float of the ground, still, she wouldn't be able to hold it up for long like that.

She reduced the chakra coating even more, till the shell wasn't even visible anymore.

"You know?" Kakashi said. "I think this is the first time I saw a student try to learn wire manipulation by keeping the wire still like that... usually they are taught to throw the wire and then manipulate it in flight, not by coating the entire length of it in a thin shell..."

Sakura looked the wire again. If she threw it... and then applied the shell on specific points... it would be far lighter.

She pulled the wire back and threw it again. This time, while she did coat the wire in chakra she didn't solidify it. Narrowing her eyes she channeled her chakra into a small, solid, pipe roughly in the middle of the wire.

The kunai at the end practically jumped up. But she had lost quite a bit of momentum in exchange.

"How can you keep it moving once you lose momentum?" She asked Kakashi, as she reeled the wire back again.

"It's not easy, most people never master it." He replied with a shrug.

Sakura looked at him confused.

"Most learn how to conserve momentum. They try to ensure a minimum of friction." He answered, as she tried again. "Your first try is necessary to keep the kunai moving even after it's momentum has run out."

She nodded absently. That made sense, you needed both an anchor and movement to change direction in midair. The anchor wasn't the problem... no it was. After all, the problem wasn't changing direction in midair. She could do that already. The problem was moving again once the momentum ran out.

If she coated the entire wire in chakra she could do it, no problem. However, she would need to invest chakra to anchor herself and to increase her strength, to keep the weight of the wire, the kunai and the chakra coating it up.

She tapped her mouth thoughtfully. "Say... how do puppeteers project their chakra into the puppets?" She asked Kakashi.

He grinned at her and ruffled her hair. "Why would you want to know?" He asked, voice dripping with false innocence.

"Well, if I wanted to make the wire move again, after it stopped, I would either need to pull it, providing momentum that way. Or I coat it in chakra and move the chakra itself." She shook her head. "In the first case the momentum would be somewhat limited. Still very useful, but limited... still have to train that as well. But in the second case I would be wasting a lot of chakra. I don't want to move all of the wire after all. I just want to move a section of it."

Kakashi nodded along. "Very good, I had to explain that to Sasuke you know?"

Sakura preened for a second, before focusing on the wire again. She threw it, this time waiting, until she felt it grow taunt, as it reached full extension.

She slammed two chakra spikes into the earth. One at the end of the wire one around the middle.

The chakra branched out in the earth, securing it's purchase. And even at a one millimeter diameter, her chakra had no trouble holding the kunai up.

Sakura smirked. She still had to strain a bit to keep the wire up. But this was nothing compared to keeping a solid coat on the entire wire.

Kakashi stared at the wire up in the air. "Well... that was faster than I expected..."

Sakura chuckled. "Please, I am pretty smart you know?"

He nodded, before gesturing for her to continue. "Can you move it as well?"

She rolled her eyes. "Of course, if I have an anchor I can move it." She boasted.

She focused on the end of the wire, took hold of the encased the handle of the kunai and pushed with her chakra.

The kunai seemed to float slowly back into Sakura's direction.

This time it was Kakashi that chuckled. "It seems you do have to practice a bit more."

Sakura blushing nodded. At this distance it was hard to make her chakra move as fast as she wanted... no it was just hard to make her chakra move that fast, regardless of how far it was away.

"But, you have managed to get the principles behind wire-manipulation down far faster than I expected." He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Maybe you can answer me something though." He gestured to the slowly floating kunai. "If you can make a kunai float like that, why use the wire? A puppeteer can do the same, but he doesn't need a wire for it."

Sakura had to stop herself from rolling her eyes. Could he be any more transparent?

"Simple. The wire makes it easier. True, I could just throw the kunai and let it trail chakra, so I can control it in mid air."

She frowned, annoyed. "With a bit of training I'm sure I'll be able to move it fast enough to hurt somebody as well. But if I have the wire, even if somebody managed to cut my chakra connection I can recover the kunai, I can also establish connection far faster and easier, than if I had only a chakra connection.

"Additionally it saves me chakra changing direction.... well actually no, I can do that with chakra concentrated at the tip of the kunai..."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow, then shook his head. "Your one mistake, is that you dismissed the wire as a tool to control direction from the very beginning." He said.

"Huh?" Sakura looked at the wire in her hand, how could you...

Kakashi pulled a wire of his own from one pocket. "As I said, I'm no expert. But true masters of the wire don't just use chakra to control the wire." He flung it at a tree and moved his finger ever so slightly. The kunai changed direction almost at a 90 degree angle.

He twitched again, and again the kunai changed direction.

"The trick is, to supplement the momentum you can build up with your hands alone with chakra. It's not to use only chakra, or to use only your hands. It needs to be a symbiosis of the two." He explained, as a pulse of chakra twitched the kunai around 180 degrees, sending it back to the original tree.

"Sasuke could already use his hands well. He only needed to learn better chakra control." He looked at her. "I expected that you had to learn both... but it seems you only need to extend your knowledge of the movements a bit. There are a lot of subtleties that the academy wouldn't have been able to teach."

He leaned over her and took her hand. "Here, this is how you move your fingers, to make the wire move faster..."

--o--

Naruto groaned, as pulled himself out of the water, his entire body was covered in nicks from Anko's kunai. His only consolation was that most of the nicks were already healing.

And of course, the fact that Sasuke had about as many cuts as he had... if you didn't count the ones that had healed already.

The water surrounding them had a slightly pink hue.

At this point Naruto worried that it was him carried of by unconscious... at Anko's mercy. It was a whole lot less fun imagining that, when it was his ass on the line, maybe litteraly.

Maybe he could distract her with Sasuke?

"What the hell are you doing Uzumaki? You should have mastered waterwalking by now!" Anko, shouted. "Aren't you motivated enough?"

Naruto looked at Sasuke, standing on the water as if it was the easiest thing in the world.

If it wasn't for the small rivers of blood running down his face and arms, Naruto would have thought it had been easy for Sasuke.

Still, he stood, where Naruto sank.

"I dunno, this is hard! The water is moving and stuff. And we are at it for hours already! Can't we do something else?"

Not that he wanted to do something else. He wanted to master this, but maybe when Anko wasn't supervising. It had to be saver that way.

Anko sighed. "Well, I suppose you guys can catch a break. Might as well see how my real student is doing." She scampered off, away from the two bleeding boys.

As soon as she disappeared Sasuke collapsed into a quivering wreck.

"She is scary." He muttered, while he weakly swam to dry ground.

Naruto nodded, while he laid down, trying to recuperate all that lost blood.

"Yeah." He looked around, making sure nobody was close enough to overhear him. "You know? I like Sakura, I like her a lot."

Sasuke snorted. "I would never have guessed."

"Oh shut up." Naruto growled, he made sure neither Sakura nor Anko were anywhere close to them.

"But I sure am glad that the freaky Snake lady considers Sakura her student not us." He finished.

Sasuke nodded. "Yes, better her than us."

Comfortable silence reigned for a few seconds, as the two boys caught their breath.

"On the other hand," Sasuke finally said. "What about after she is done training Sakura?"

Naruto slowly turned his head towards Sasuke, color slowly drained from his face.

"After?" He stammered weakly.

"You know how scary Sakura is lately..." Sasuke whispered.

"Sakura with training from the scary snake psycho..." Naruto shuddered.

"I'm scared Naruto." Sasuke whimpered.

"Hehehe... they are just girls, right?" Naruto replied.

"Don't let them hear that." Kakashi muttered, as he sat down beside them.

"Kakashi-sensei." Naruto jumped up. "We have to do something, what if Anko turns Sakura into a copy of her." Naruto stopped, as he imagined Team 7 with face masks like Kakashi, always late with weird excuses.

Still better than Sakura as a mini Anko, he decided quickly.

"I doubt it will be that bad." Kakashi placated, but he turned around before he muttered something that sounded suspiciously like: "Too late anyway."

"In any case, breaks over, next step on the agenda." He pulled out gauze and band aids. "First aid. Those cuts look bad Sasuke... Sasuke, how much blood did you loose. Sasuke? Dammit Sasuke talk to me!"

--o--

Ino pushed herself up again. "Fifty!" She gasped and fell back to the ground, panting madly.

Besides her Shikamaru also did pushups. "Twenty-one." He muttered, before quickly returning to the ground again and giving himself a short rest.

Choji didn't try that, he learned fast, Ino decided.

"Forty." He gasped, then "Forty-one."

Ino nodded satisfied. "At least one of us isn't a loser eh Shikamaru." She growled, as the lazy boy pushed himself up again.

He ignored her, simply counted off his pushup, then went down again.

She narrowed her eyes, this wouldn't do. She leaned down, ignored the pain in her arms and whispered in Shikamaru's ear: "I wonder what having a sleepover would be like, for say, a week. Waking up with you." She could see him twitch. "Having breakfast with you." The twitch again, she smirked cruelly. "Always being near you." That did it, he broke.

The push ups came much faster, smother and without any interruptions.

Ino got up giggling, though that was interrupted almost immediately by a groan, as her muscles protested. But she wouldn't give up.

"Impressive, the way you motivated him." Asuma praised her.

"Just have to know what makes him tick." She shrugged. "And if he looses to Naruto the threat also becomes reality."

A whimper escaped form the boy below. "That's not fair!" He panted. "Sakura will use the same threat to make sure Naruto wins!"

"Maybe, but who is worse? Me or Sakura?" Ino sneered.

Shikamaru stopped, contemplating the idea.

"Who said you could stop?" Ino snapped and he continued his pushups. Choji had joined them by now and looked at his friend worriedly.

"Can't we..." He started to say, but Ino shot him down.

"No, he has to work as hard as everybody else. There's no more time for fun and games. We are in the real world now. The only games we get to play are the ones with our life's on the line."

Ino glared at her teammates. "And I won't have you two lose your lives because you didn't train properly."

Choji considered it for a second before nodding.

Ino turned to Asuma. "Alright Sensei, what's next?"

Asuma shook his head, chuckling. "Next, as soon as Shikamaru recovers that is." The boy was panting on the ground, they had been training for hours already.

"Team training. You three against me. You are going to try and bring me down. You can use every weapon you have."

Ino nodded cheerfully. "You are going to go down Sensei!" She said confidently.

Choji shrugged, stuffing chips into his mouth and Shikamaru groaned. "We are going to die."

Ino kicked him for his troubles. "Quit your whining, I'm not gonna loose to Sakura." She pulled him up. "Get up, your brains are needed."

--o--

Sakura sat besides Naruto at Ichiraku's, the blond alternated between scarfing down his ramen and talking to her.

She replied whenever the waterfall of words stopped, which honestly wasn't all that often. Naruto talked about the training, how he would kick Anko's ass if she threw a kunai at him again.

A sentiment Sakura could wholeheartedly agree with. Though in her case it was more about dodging poisoned kunai, while mixing another poison. Who the hell taught poison making, while having a pitched battle?

Yeah, that sounded like a good idea. If you knew how to make poisons. Training to make them on the fly and in hostile environments? Made perfect sense. But not as a beginners lesson!

But complaining about it required too much effort. Anko had her beat. Running around the forest, always alert for the next kunai, while also keeping a lookout for the plant necessary to create her poison.

Her body felt like it consisted of one massive strained muscle and her brain like mush.

Listening to Naruto about having to bandage Sasuke's chest because Anko had cut it while waterwalking...

Hmm Sasuke's chest, glistening with water and blood, so sexy and dangerous. And Naruto, who had to remove his own bulky suit, also topless, leaning over...

"Sakura? Are you all right? You are all red." Naruto's voice cut into her daydream.

"Huh? Wha?" She looked around wildly. "Uhh sorry, I'm kinda tired. Anko is merciless."

Naruto nodded. "I know, why did Kakashi get her to train us?"

"Because he is a sadistic bastard who likes to see us suffer." Sakura answered.

"Probably. Oh by the way, Sakura? Can you give me some hints on waterwalking?" He looked at her with big eyes. Damn but he had the puppy eyes down pat.

"Wish I could, but I haven't even started with that yet. Kakashi doesn't think I need to train it, that wirework will help me more than enough with my control." She sighed tiredly. "And I would agree, I need to use the least amount of chakra possible, to get the greatest results. It's hard to control chakra at that level."

Naruto nodded. "You are so cool Sakura!" He crowed.

Sakura preened under the praise. It would have felt even better from Sasuke, but she got her dose of acknowledgment from whatever source was available.

"You aren't bad yourself, Naruto." She looked down. "You are way better than me in some ways even."

Naruto shook his head wildly. "No way, you are far more awesome than me. I mean I can't even do a stupid bunshin."

Sakura laughed and flung herself at him, nearly throwing him from his seat, as she hugged him. "Thanks. But I don't mean as a ninja. I mean as a person. You have so much more patience than me."

She laughed again at his confused expression. "I'm not talking about training, idiot. I'm talking about dealing with people. Even if you are pretty inept in social situations, you still manage to pull through."

She felt Naruto hug her back tentatively. "Err... if you say so." He muttered embarrassed.

"And you never give up. Even if continuing is the only choice. For you impossible doesn't exist does it? If you have to you'll rewrite reality."

"Hehe, well yeah." His confidence returned with his dose of acknowledgment.

"What the hell?" Ino screeched, from behind Sakura. "What the hell are you doing forehead?"

"Hugging Naruto, he's comfy." Sakura replied, without looking at Ino. Naruto was pretty comfy actually. "Did I mention you make a great pillow Naruto? God I'm so tired."

She could feel Naruto heat up as he stammered something incomprehensible.

"He's comfortable? Are you trying to steal all the hot boys for yourself Sakura?" Ino growled.

"I'm only interacting with my teammates you know?" Sakura replied, without letting go of Naruto.

"Meh, lemme give him a try." Ino said, pushing Sakura away, to give Naruto a hug herself.

Sakura squawked indignantly, but didn't try to hug him again.

"Ohh you are right, he's an awesome pillow. So warm." Ino muttered, nearly climbing into Naruto's lap.

Naruto looked around frantically, imploring Sakura to do something about it.

Sakura shrugged. "Enjoy it." She mouthed to him.

Ayame giggled at the sight of Naruto with a blond girl in his lap. "You two are so cute together." Then she looked at Sakura. "But you and Naruto were cute too."

"Eh I think any guy would look cute with either of us hugging him. We are the perfect accessory." Sakura joked.

She looked at Ino and Naruto with a raised eyebrow. "Ino? You still there?"

No response came from the slumbering blonde.

"Wow, she must have trained pretty hard." Sakura muttered to herself.

"Come on Naruto, let's bring Ino home. She looks as if she needs her bed."

Naruto looked around frantically. "Wh.. what? What am I supposed to do?"

Sakura sighed exasperatedly. "Pick her up and follow me. Nothing more."

Naruto squirmed a bit, before he managed to slip out of his seat without dropping Ino.

"Alright!" Sakura exclaimed, quietly and grabbed one of his arms, to steer him... and hold herself up. If Ino hadn't come along it would have been her Naruto carried off. Or not depending on what he would do without her guidance.

"Come on, it's not far." She whispered, as she dragged him along.

Soon they had reached the Yamanaka flower-shop.

"Ino, wake up." Sakura shook Ino a bit and the girl curled herself into Naruto.

"Just a few more minutes." She murmured.

"Ino, Sasuke is dancing naked down the street." Sakura tried again.

Suddenly Ino stood beside her wide awake, scanning the street for any sign of a naked hunk. "Where?"

She blinked, when she realized that no eye-candy was available and slouched with a yawn. "That was dirty." She muttered, while glaring at Sakura.

"But it worked. Besides, Naruto already carried you here. I had my doubts about letting him carry you into your bed." Sakura replied easily.

Ino gasped in shock. "A man in a maidens bedroom?" She whirled around and pulled Naruto's ever present jacket back, revealing a black shirt, that didn't entirely succeed in hiding his chest.

"Hmm he might just get an invitation." She winked at Naruto, who stammered something incomprehensible and blushed.

"Ino, stop embarrassing him." Sakura admonished her friend, that was her job dammit.

"Fine, fine. Still, I have to thank him for carrying me here." She leaned over and gave Naruto a quick kiss on the cheek. "Thanks Naruto." With a wink for Naruto and a wave to Sakura she quickly disappeared into her house.

Naruto stood there, a hand on his cheek, while Sakura watched where Ino had disappeared an eyebrow raised.

"Does training till she drops make her flirt more or something?" She asked herself.

"What just happened?" Naruto wondered, looking at Sakura for any sort of explanation.

"What are you looking at me for? I have no idea." She shrugged.

"In any case, it's only polite for you to escort me home as well." She held her arm out for him to take.

He complied, too confused to refuse, judging by his face.

They slowly made their way through the village. It was late, few people where around and the few who were didn't pay any attention to them.

"This is nice." Sakura said.

"Yeah." He answered.

"We should do this more often."

"Huh? Another date?" He asked.

Sakura shook her head. "No, I mean meeting together, you Sasuke, me, Ino... the other teams." She leaned on Naruto. "Just talking, getting to know each other. Since I've graduated my social life has been shot to hell."

She could feel Naruto squirm, but he nodded as well. "I would like that."

"This was the first time you've ever come together with people outside of Team 7, wasn't it." She asked.

"I had Iruka, and the old man." Naruto shrugged.

"I wonder who Sasuke had..." Sakura whispered.

Naruto growled slightly, but he quieted down almost immediately. "Yeah..."

They walked the rest of the way in silence. Naruto caught her, whenever she stumbled thanks to her tiredness.

As they reached her door she looked Naruto in the eyes, he was blushing slightly.

She was too, she realized.

"I had a fun evening Naruto." She finally said, smiling softly. "Thanks."

Naruto grinned and shrugged. "I enjoyed it too."

Suddenly Sakura jumped forward and planted her lips on his. There was no tongue involved here, Naruto wasn't Sasuke after all. "A reward for being a perfect gentlemen tonight." She winked at him, then slipped into her home. Leaving behind a dumbfounded Naruto.

--o--

"Lucky Brat! Two girls in one night!" Jirayia muttered to himself. Not that it really meant anything. The girls were just having some fun. Naruto too, judging by the hideous grin on the brats face.

Ahh to be young again.

Still, he watched as Naruto stumbled his way back home. Colliding with various objects on the way, though never loosing his silly grin. The brat was doing alright, better than before he had become a genin certainly. The only question left, was whether he would grow fast enough.

"Let's hope your teacher knows what he's doing brat." Jirayia muttered, before turning back to the hot spring.

"Ehehehe, yes get rid of those boring tops and let those puppies out!"


	7. Bridge

Expectations of Development

--o--

Bridge

--o--

"God damn it Uzumaki! Water-walking isn't that hard. Even the Uchiha managed it by now. Sakura managed it after one day! You didn't make any progress in a fucking week!" Anko raged at Naruto.

Sakura would find it funny, if she didn't have the suspicion that something was wrong with him. Kakashi looked on with a frown, unknowingly mirroring Sasuke. Or Sasuke mirrored him, who knew.

"Orochimaru." Sasuke finally muttered.

All eyes looked on him instantly. Anko seemed ready to bite his face off, she appeared directly in front of him, growling.

"What do you mean?" She asked, her voice dangerously low.

Sasuke didn't step back though. Sakura nodded proudly. He would have, a week ago. But exposure had weakened the effects Anko had on all of them.

Sadly not the poisons she used on Sakura, or her insistence on training her into the ground and then into an early grave.

"When he attacked us in the forest, he..." Sasuke looked at Naruto, scrunching up his face. "He hit his stomach. Naruto fainted afterward, but he seemed alright after he woke up."

Sakura nodded. "Yeah I told Iruka about it... I think. But it didn't seem important compared with Sasuke's seal, especially since Naruto didn't have seem to be affected."

Anko glared at her. "And did you actually check? Did you actually bother to, I dunno." She ripped off Naruto's top. "Look?"

Both her and Kakashi stared at Naruto's stomach. Which was completely empty, just as Sakura had expected.

"Channel some chakra would you Naruto?" Kakashi asked, he looked at Sakura and Sasuke for a second. Sakura suspected he was debating whether to send them away or not, but she wouldn't leave now.

Anko didn't seem to worry about them, she merely stared at Naruto, who glanced at them, trying to look as if he didn't.

Sakura gave Sasuke a look, who simply shook his head, this wasn't the time to ask questions.

Naruto sighed, and channeled his chakra.

Sakura felt her eyes widen as she watched a spiral spring to life on his stomach. Apparently Naruto did have a seal. But why didn't he mention it? Sasuke growled slightly. She had mentioned his...

"Yeah he modified it, alright..." Anko muttered, her fingers tracing the seal. "Damn, can't do anything about this. It's way too complicated for me. If I work on this... who knows what would happen."

Kakashi nodded, rubbing his chin in thought. "You might not have to, somebody's in Konoha, somebody who is an expert on seals."

Anko looked at Kakashi with narrowed eyes. "The Hokage is good, but even he never..." Her eyes widened. "He's here is he?" She asked.

Kakashi chuckled weakly. "I... yes, yes he is."

"Sakura? No public bath's if you value your privacy from now on." Anko ordered, no advised her. "Unless... you want to help me catch a dirty old man to help Naruto?"

Sakura looked down at her chest, then at Anko's. She felt like crying. "Would I be of any use?"

Anko cackled. "Not as bait no. But, you can help me capture him, having somebody to give me a signal when he's around and to slow him down will be very useful."

Thanks for the vote of confidence sensei. Sakura wisely didn't say out loud.

She would get Anko for this, oh yes, she would.

"Uhh what's going on?" Naruto asked. He had hurriedly collected his shirt and jacket again.

"Well Naruto, Anko and Sakura will have a teacher, student bounding moment." Kakashi said, smiling madly behind his mask. "And they will try to catch somebody, who will be able to help you with the seal on your stomach. Hopefully without any incidents."

Sasuke sighed. "Does that mean we can continue to train now? I feel myself getting weaker here."

Naruto nodded, his head bobbed up and down. "Yeah, I want to do something. All we did today was, talk, talk, talk."

Kakashi didn't stop grinning. "Well since the girls are going to do some bonding I thought we might also bond."

Sakura could feel a shiver run up her back. The way Kakashi pronounced that word... she waved her good bye, to the idiots who just signed their own dead sentences.

"Bye, try not to die you two."

"Yeah brats, I want to torture you some more." Anko waved cheerfully.

Both girls turned away, leaving the boys and the growing sounds of violence behind.

"Oh god, that doesn't bend that way Kakashi!" Naruto screamed.

"Ah boys and their games." Anko sighed happily.

Sakura didn't agree, she had plans for Sasuke and if Kakashi damaged him... well she would damage Kakashi right back.

--o--

Anko leaned back in the hot spring. Relaxing here, felt soo good. Pity Kurenai couldn't come, her and that cute little student of hers. It would have been so much fun to tease them.

And the kids eyes would have been useful as well.

They had to rely on their own eyes now, but Sakura stood hidden in one of the trees, overlooking the entire bath, both male and female.

She would give a warning, as soon as she saw somebody peek, so Anko leaned back and enjoyed the heat.

--o--

Damn it, did Jirayia decide not to show today? Sakura hadn't given any indication of his presence at all. And Anko had been relaxing for an hour now.

Not that it was bad mind you. She did enjoy herself. But still they had a job to do and she would have to leave the bath soon. She glanced at the tree Sakura hid herself in.

And stopped. In the tree, her student sat, plainly visible, beside an older man, both ignoring the other, in favor of the view below them.

Anko didn't know how to feel. On the one hand, her student abandoned her. On the other, her student enjoyed a prime view of male flesh on display.

And the mission could be counted as a success. Since they had, in fact, found Jirayia.

Who stared at her exposed breasts... ok Sakura would pay for allowing that to happen. But first they had to get Jirayia. Easy enough though, especially with Sakura as close as she was.

Anko whistled, a shrill sound, that should pierce any eardrum in the area.

Sakura didn't react... damn pervert... Anko wanted to know what she was looking at, that focused her attention so much.

She whistled again. This time Sakura reacted, finally.

She quickly looked around, noticed Jirayia, slammed a few needles Anko supplied her with into his back and focused on whatever happened below again.

Jirayia teetered for a second, before he fell to the ground. He managed to land gracefully, but he wobbled back and forth only seconds before he slumped against the tree, his eyes finally closing, as he slipped into a deep and peaceful sleep.

Anko wrapped a towel around herself and jumped onto the tree. She got a bit of applause, as the other females had noticed Jirayia's fall.

She stood beside Sakura, who didn't even greet her. "What are you looking at brat? And how long has he been..."

Underneath she could see one of the prettiest boys she had ever seen, totally naked, he just sat there, drawing.

His nudity proudly on display for all the world to see.

My if he was just a few years older she could just gobble him up.

"So... developed a taste for peeping have you?" She asked Sakura.

Sakura blinked, then looked up at her. "I've merely developed an appreciation for nature's bountiful treasures."

Anko cackled, finally drawing the attention of the males below them.

Most immediately dropped below the water and kinda glared. Pretty boy just glanced at them for a second, then focused on his picture again.

"Well, I think we should get out of here now. We got our target after all." Anko said, studying the boy some more.

From below shouts were heard about dirty damn peepers and innocence lost.

Anko had the distinct impression the men were actually enjoying it.

"Shut up down there, we aren't interested in your fat asses at all!" Sakura shouted back.

Anko cackled again. Her student came along so great!

"What do you mean? Fat? This ass look fat to you?" One of the guys shot back and showed a very nice piece of ass off.

Sakura blushed slightly. Anko simply wolf whistled. "Yeah baby, shake it!"

The guy blinked and disappeared below the water again. To the laughter from every other guy in the area.

Anko sighed, she did stand here with only a towel to hide her assets. "Come on, we should leave Sakura."

Nodding the girl jumped from the tree and collected Jirayia. "Ugh the lump is heavy." She complained.

Anko shrugged. "Yeah, it's all that fat he carries around with him. Just carry him to the training ground. I'll put some clothes on and meet you there."

Sakura stared at her in adorable disbelieve. "Carry him? All alone? Me?"

"Consider it strength training." Anko shrugged.

--o--

Jirayia slowly came too again.

The last thing he remembered, was the busty chick whistling loudly.

Oh and the nice pair of tits she had.

He grinned widely.

Then the pink haired girl he shared the tree with, had thrown him down. Without any provocation!

And he thought they were kindred souls. Researching the subtleties of human interaction and anatomy in public places.

Hmm come to think of it, he had seen her before, just where...

Idly he let his gaze wander, the busty chick stood there, her clothes gave her the illusion of indecency while still hiding everything. How disappointing.

The pink one stood there as well, red from head to toe. He focused on the older one. He knew her too. Now from where...

Anko, Orochimaru's apprentice. And the pink one was one of Kakashi's students.

So, she probably sat on the tree to catch him... and got distracted, how cute.

He chuckled, from the way she acted around Naruto...

"Again, I'll admit the guy was very, very pretty. But you had a mission. And spying on the cute guys wasn't in the job description." Anko reprimanded the girl. "He ogled me who knows how long!"

Not more than a few minutes, there were other girls after all.

Sakura shrugged. "You didn't exactly mind I recall."

Anko sighed. "That's beside the point. What about the other woman there? Do you think they wanted to be ogled?"

That was a yes, in Jirayia's humble opinion. But he might be biased.

"No, of course not. But, he was just so pretty!" Sakura attempted to defend herself. Again, judging by the look on Anko's face, disappointment mixed with disgust.

"Besides, I had to make sure he didn't suspect anything. If I had attacked him directly he would have defended himself easily." She finished.

She was wrong of course, he had dismissed her almost immediately, not because he thought he shared an interest with her, but simply because she didn't pose a challenge.

But still, admitting that he would have been caught flatfooted without the charade would be bad, so he better help her there.

"She's absolutely right, you know Anko?" He chuckled as he pushed himself up. He discreetly noted the time, the sun had wandered a bit, but it wasn't too late yet.

He planted a hand on Sakura's shoulder, maybe with a bit more force than strictly necessary, but she didn't buckle at all.

"I had her pegged for a guard at first glance, however, when I noticed her eyes were focused elsewhere. Well benefit of the doubt and all that." He grinned at the two of them.

Both returned the grin with a raised eyebrow.

Sakura at least attempted to hide her doubt... from Anko.

"Anyway, seeing as I didn't wake up battered and bruised, can I assume you wanted something from me? Something that doesn't involve me appreciating your beauty?" He winked at Anko, who snorted.

"Sorry Sakura, I can only take so much of him. Meet me at the training ground, I'll make sure Naruto is ready. And tell your boy toy that his position might be in danger." Anko waved quickly, before she disappeared in the trees.

He turned to watch the girl, who scowled after her teacher, all the while blushing furiously.

"So, what do you want from me?" He asked her.

She stopped scowling almost immediately, looked left, looked right and rummaged in her pockets for a second. Then handed him a small stack of books and a pencil.

Her blush had only gotten worse.

"Ahahaha. A fan eh?" He laughed, as he took the books and signed them. "Don't worry, you aren't the only female who loves them. I heard they spiced up quite a few bedrooms."

Sakura eagerly took back her books, quickly stashing them in her pockets again.

"Maybe I should tell that boy you have an eye on to read..." Suddenly she held a kunai in her hand and pressed it at one of his most sensitive places.

"One word to Sasuke, and you will have no incentive to research the next book." She growled out.

It was kinda cute, the way she thought she could actually threaten him.

Still, he would have to teach her...

"And we actually need you to have a look at Naruto. Orochimaru did something to him. Anko isn't sure she can do anything."

Teaching her respect would have to wait. Naruto was more important. "Lead the way then, we are wasting time."

She rolled her eyes, but started walking. "It's not dangerous. Naruto just can't control his chakra as well as he should be able to. That's all. It's no emergency or something. He did fine since the chunin exam."

Jirayia would rather he make sure of that himself, thank you very much.

"Maybe, just show me the way." He ordered.

--o--

Naruto frowned at the people all around him. Or tried to at least. He just couldn't muster the energy. Kakashi had thrown him and Sasuke around the training ground in the most fun and painful training match ever. Naruto hurt all over, but the pain was good, it meant he was improving himself.

Sasuke seemed in a similar stated, he almost smiled weakly.

"Well, well, well. Look at the poor little boys, all beaten up. I wonder what Sakura would say." Anko announced her presence.

And hopefully Sakura would take pity on them and help make the pain go away. Maybe with a kiss. He grinned hopefully, he still remembered the last one.

And Ino too, he hadn't paid much attention to her in the academy, just another girl who ignored him as best as she could.

But now, that he was a ninja, that all changed!

Soon he would have a lot of girls after him. He would only go for Sakura, of course.

Now if only he could get her away from Sasuke.

"We found Jirayia, he's on his way." Anko said to Kakashi, who looked as fresh as ever, not even scratched.

Damn him, Naruto had nearly had him once. Sasuke twice. But the man always managed to slip out at the last second.

If only Sasuke had helped Naruto once or twice. Naruto was sure they would have landed a hit.

Instead Sasuke demanded that Naruto help him. As if!

Either Sasuke helped Naruto and Naruto would help Sasuke in turn, or there would be no help forthcoming.

An older man with white hair followed Sakura onto the clearing, he looked at the boys, and at the destroyed clearing.

"Well, if you attempted to destroy the forest you did very well, but I think you missed a tree or two." The guy said. Naruto had the vague impression of seeing him before, but he couldn't put a place or a time on it.

Sakura stalked over to Sasuke, knelt down and forced him to gulp down a small vial. Judging by Sasuke's expression it tasted vile.

Satisfied Sakura stood and made her way over to Naruto.

"Uhh, whatever that is, I don't need it!" Naruto tried to stop Sakura, however he could barely lift his hands, much less stop her from grabbing his head, tilting it back and force the foul liquid down his throat.

"Blerg, what the hell is this?" Naruto shouted. He did notice a rush of energy go through his limbs and began to push himself up.

"Just a little energizer, from all natural herbs, fruits and vegetables." Sakura said, a slight smile hiding on her lips. "It's basically what soldier-pills are made from. Just a fair bit weaker. Less destructive too. Perfect to give a small boost without pushing your body to it's limits."

The new guy nodded. "Yeah, soldier-pills are useful, emergency use only though, as far as I'm concerned."

Sakura blushed at that, but said nothing.

"Anyway, could you get rid of Naruto's shirt? I need to see his stomach, if I want to work on the seal."

Sakura didn't stop blushing at that. Not that she paused for even a second, before mugging him of his jacket and shirt.

He would have stopped her, really he would. But even with the energy drink she forced down his throat, he just felt too weak to properly defend himself.

And so he stood there, shirtless, glaring at everbody around him and exposed to scrutiny from the old guy, Anko and Sakura.

Both of which were wolf-whistling wildly.

"You sure you want the Uchiha? This one seems pretty nice." Anko leered.

Sakura looked at Naruto, then at Sasuke. Her head went back and forth for a few seconds, before she nodded and walked over to Sasuke.

"Sasuke, stand still!" She ordered the boy.

Sasuke glared ineffective at her approach, Naruto snickered, served him right.

A quick struggle later and the Uchiha stood as shirtless as Naruto.

His glare had intensified and alternated between Anko, Sakura and Naruto.

"Bwahaha, mugged by a girl bastard!" Naruto shouted in his face.

He also didn't notice Sakura checking them out quite openly. Nope, certainly didn't feel like he was a prime cut of meat in front of a hungry wolf.

Sakura giggled quietly.

"Well, this doesn't seem so bad." The old guy said, standing up from his examination.

"It isn't?" Naruto asked. Why go through all this trouble then?

"Yeah, could you ask the pink one to come over for a second?"

Naruto looked at Sakura. "Sakugak!"

And felt the old bastards hand slam into his stomach, driving the air out of his lungs and himself onto the ground.

"What the hell was that for?" Naruto sprung up, into the geezers face.

"Hahaha, well you certainly seem energetic again." The man said.

Naruto blinked, it was true, he felt way better then a few seconds ago.

"Try water-walking again." Kakashi said, gesturing toward the river.

Naruto shrugged and walked over. "Sure. This time I will get it!"

And he did... easily. He just walked on the water and stood there, no difficulties at all....

"Damn that Orochimaru!" He shouted in outrage. "How dare he make this stuff so difficult for me too learn?"

--o--

Sakura ignored Naruto's out burst, instead she watched his stomach, or better the seal she could still see.

Glancing at Sasuke she knew he realized it as well. This confirmed that Orochimaru didn't create that seal. He only interfered with it.

A glance at Jirayia assured her, that the man had noticed the two of them looking at the seal.

He kept quite though.

And Anko and Kakashi knew about the first seal as well. Only her and Sasuke didn't. And she bet none of her classmates knew about the seal either. Ino would have mentioned something.

"Brat, lemme have a look at the seal, let's make sure nothing was damaged when I undid the snakes' seal." Jirayia shouted at the raging boy.

Anko nodded, her face carefully blank. "Yeah, he has a way of leaving nasty traps in place."

Her hand snaked to her back, and brushed against something there for a second, before returning to her side.

Sakura glanced at Sasuke, who looked back, eyes half closed in apparent boredom.

"We need to talk." She mouthed to him. She got a well hidden nod in return. "With Naruto too."

She added and got another nod in return.

Looking at the adults, she didn't think any of them noticed the little conversation.

So time for a distraction. "How did you get beaten so badly anyway? You should have at least given Kakashi a black eye!" She asked the boys. Always a good way to distract them.

"I would have, if Sasuke hadn't gotten in my way!" Naruto shouted immediately.

Sasuke merely grunted, which translated roughly into:" And if he hadn't gotten into my way Kakashi would be a little pile of ashes right now."

Sakura looked at Kakashi. If she interpreted the look right and she had gotten good at interpreting the looks her boys carried, then his said something along the lines of: "If you two had worked together in any way, shape or form, like in wave for example, I would have gone easy on you and wouldn't have to beat your scrawny little asses all around the clearing."

She might have interpreted a bit much into Kakashi's look, but whatever.

She looked down, she still held their clothes.

She giggled again, looking at the exposed flesh all around her. Hmm sexy. If only Ino where here, they could have so much fun with the boys.

--o--

Ino frowned, as she twisted and turned away from Shikamaru's strikes, and not because he kept missing her by miles. No, she felt as if she was missing something, something good.

One of Shikamaru punches hit her dead in the face, sending her flying.

She rolled over a few times and laid still. The bastard had waited till she got sure of herself, then landed one clean punch on her.

Not bad, but if he thought she would be down from that one...

"Get up already. I know you aren't out." He sighed.

Right, Shikamaru. He would know when she attempted to fake him out.

Choji ran past them, Asuma hot on his heels. "If you can't finish this round we won't go eat tonight either." Asuma said easily.

Choji's eyes widened in something close to a panic. They hadn't eaten out for the entire week. Choji just didn't have the constitution to finish Asuma's sadistic new training regime.

To be honest, neither did Ino. Or Shikamaru.

It came as close to hell as anything Ino ever experienced. And she loved it.

She charged Shikamaru, who countered with his shadow bind. Easiest thing to counter ever, but Ino waited to reveal her ace. It wasn't yet time. She grinned at him. "Nice catch Shika, now what are you going to do with helpless little me?" She attempted to wiggle suggestively, but his shadow prevented that.

"Please stop using me as a practice dummy for your seduction techniques. It's demeaning." He countered, slowly stepping closer.

She didn't struggle much, just enough to let him feel the strain of holding her.

"Aww, but who am I supposed to train on then? I mean I have to train on somebody. And Asuma..." She trailed off, only a foot or two away from each other now, she rolled the small marble in her mouth around.

"How about Choji?" He asked. "He's very dependable, loyal..."

"Well yeah, but he's like a brother. So not going there." She replied.

Shika raised an eyebrow. "And what am I?" She could just hear him say that being her brother would be a drag.

Of course, he wouldn't have the opportunity, as he had just lowered his head.

She activated the marble with some chakra and spit it on the ground.

Shikamaru's eyes widened, just as Ino closed her own.

Consequently the explosion blinded him, as the marble went off with a loud bang and a flash.

"Arrg!" He screamed, shying away from Ino, who managed to push through her own disorientation, and didn't pull any punches.

She practically mauled Shikamaru, following up punch with punch, hitting his face, stomach and chest repeatedly. She didn't bother aiming, the bang had made concentrating difficult anyway, and even with her eyes closed, she could barely see.

Shikamaru however, couldn't see at all and only managed to block a punch here or there and only by luck.

Ino smirked viciously as she spun into a high kick, hitting his head.

Shikamaru went down hard, his eyes widened for a second, before they closed and he slammed into the ground.

Ino though she heard him cough, but her ears were still ringing, so she couldn't say for sure.

Quickly she went down, to check for any serious injuries. They had to bring him into the hospital twice already. Nothing major but with the way he fought, slow and deliberate.

Ino wouldn't have it. Against an enemy like Naruto or Sasuke. Or even worse Sakura. Who would mercilessly hound him, he couldn't take the time to think. They would rush him and distract him, in Naruto's case with incoherent babbling, Sasuke with the sharingan and Sakura with bribery.

She would have to make sure he understood the consequence of failure.

She could hear Asuma shake his head behind her.

"Wasn't that just a bit much?" He asked.

"Anko poisoned Sakura at the first day of training. She cut up Naruto and Sasuke something fierce as well. It didn't get any better from there." She turned to her teacher.

"He will be ready in the exams, he will hold his own against Naruto, or he will learn what it's like to be married to me."

"I'm up Asuma, how much harder can you make the training?" Shikamaru stood beside Ino, his eyes shining with dementia.

"Err, I suppose we could turn it up a notch, if you think you can.."

"I can do it, I need to destroy Naruto!" Shikamaru said evenly and with absolute conviction.

He couldn't fool Ino though, to her ears his voice shook in panic, the wild glances in her direction didn't help his case.

--o--

Sasuke glared at Sakura, who still hadn't stopped her giggling.

She had started a minute ago and hadn't stopped. Her head swiveled slowly form him to Naruto and back again.

Their clothes held protectively to her chest.

And he just knew she would ask for something in return for them.

Narrowing his eyes he glanced at the adults, who were talking quietly at Naruto, who apparently didn't bother listening at all.

Good. Now all he had to do, was sneak up on Sakura, easy enough. Grab his clothes, even easier. And most importantly, not arouse her suspicion.

Not at all easy, especially the way her eyes kept returning to his chest.

Which felt rather good, he liked being considered the best. Though he apparently did have to share that place with Naruto.

Which, all things considered, he could kinda respect. He glanced at the blonds chest. Not nearly as lithe as his own chest, far more heavy set. But all muscles nevertheless and, he supposed quite attractive.

If you were female that is. He just couldn't understand what about the male chest was supposed to be attractive. But he didn't slow himself down with pointless thoughts like that.

Even though, in the current situation this little fact would come in quite useful.

He glanced at Sakura again, who still stared dreamily at his chest, a second later her attention had wandered to Naruto again.

It would be dangerous, she could be faking him out.

But he would be damned if he continued to be her eye candy, she would have to earn that right!

A few seals later and Sasuke let his bunshin behind, for Sakura to ogle.

He crept toward her, carefully staying downwind and behind her, she still hadn't moved.

His senses were taunt. She could really be that distracted, amongst teammates and without a reason to suspect foul play, she might just have lowered her guard.

The old Sakura would have. The new Sakura? She might just fake it, to lure him into a trap. Make a game out of the little downtime they had.

His sharingan started spinning. Confirming the Sakura he watched to be the real one.

Only few more feet.

A low giggle from her stopped Sasuke in his tracks, she lowered her eyes, but didn't look in his direction. Instead she muttered something... about eating... he would rather not know what she meant.

Though a little part of him, an annoying part that had announced his presence more often lately, especially with Anko around, insisted that she could eat him anytime she liked.

He shook his head. Crazy thought that, he would prefer nobody eat him.

"I'm not gonna tell them that!" Naruto shouted angrily. Sakura's head whipped back to Naruto, Sasuke nearly focused on the blond as well, but he couldn't give up the opportunity that had just presented itself.

He dashed from his position, running straight at Sakura, she whipped around, her eyes widening. At the last second Sasuke swerved around her, snagging his shirt and running on.

He grinned as he quickly slipped it on again. Turning around he noticed that everybody stared at him as if he had gone mad.

He reviewed his actions... ok so he had decided to steal his shirt back from Sakura in what appeared to be a quite the childish act. It was training damn it!

"I was testing whether she paid any attention." He said, a smug smirk on his face. "She wasn't."

He noticed Naruto looking at him gratefully. Probably glad he didn't have to continue his little talk with the so called adults.

He probably wouldn't feel like that if he knew that Sakura and Sasuke would have a little talk with him. Main and only topic: the seal on his stomach.

And Sasuke could just bet Naruto wouldn't like talking about it.

"Well, since you seem to have recovered as well." Kakashi said. "How about we give it another try? Anko and Jirayia will be watching and judging how you do."

"Yeah! This time we'll beat you sensei!" Naruto shouted.

"Heh, you sure about this sensei. We'll crush you." Sakura smirked, even if the effect was ruined by the slight trembling of her hands.

"Hnn." Sasuke grunted, no point giving away his excitement.

"Ok, then start!"

--o--

Sakura groaned, as Sasuke and Naruto both attacked Kakashi at once.

Both faked a rush, both easily evaded his counter attack. And both utterly ignored the other.

Which led to the expected result of both getting their asses handed to them, as Kakashi spun into a kick that hit both of them dead in the chest and threw them back to Sakura.

"Why me?" She groaned as she went to collect her teammates. Why did she have to be the voice of reason? They were both smart enough to realize that attacking Kakashi alone would be pointless. In fact, they worked well as a team, whenever they decided to actually do so!

Sadly that happened rarely. Might as well ask for a solar eclipse. Unless Sakura fought with them that is.

After all, Sakura didn't have their unbending pride and could ask for help, from both of them.

"Ok boys, this get's us nowhere. So, let's see if we can't work on this together eh?" She said to the two, as they pulled themselves up again.

Without much difficulty she noticed. Very infuriating that. If Kakashi had hit her like he hit those two, she would be out like a light.

They just picked themselves up and kept going.

"If the bastard would just help me..."

"If the idiot stopped getting in my way..."

The two started up immediately. Sakura groaned, just glad Kakashi decided to hang back and pester Jirayia for an autograph, while his genin were busy hashing out a strategy.

She couldn't decide if he actually wanted the autograph that much or if he did it to give them time.

Not that it mattered. "Shut up! If you can't help each other, at least help me? I need the help, please?"

She looked at them imploringly, all wide eyes, trembling lip and slight touches on the chest.

Naruto still hadn't replaced his jacket, but she refused to let that distract her. Not in a fight at least.

And maybe not out of one either. She had screwed up twice today, because she thought it would be safe. And as a result Sasuke had his shirt back and Jirayia had an hour of ogling defenseless women.

He also provided an example of the dangers of inattention. People could stab you in the back with poison needles.

"Of course Sakura!" Naruto shouted excitedly in her face. Sasuke's "Hmpf." Appeared agreeable as well.

"Ok then. Any plans?" She asked, looking from one to the other.

Sasuke glanced back at Kakashi, who still haggled with Jirayia over his autograph.

Their smirks confirmed what Sakura had expected, they were giving them time.

Sasuke noticed as well, judging by his frown.

"Anko trained you in creating poisons right?" He asked her, carefully.

She nodded, even though Naruto shuffled a bit uncomfortably.

"She teach you nonlethal poisons yet?" Sasuke continued.

Sakura shuddered at the memory of the first poison Anko taught her.

"Yeah, you saw the effects didn't you?"

Sasuke frowned in thought, before he shuddered slightly and nodded. "Yeah, seems a bit much. But if it's the only one you know..."

"It would be useless, it takes an hour to work at all, two to be crippling. Even if Kakashi moves around a lot, it would still take an hour to drop him." She explained, still she couldn't suppress her grin.

Naruto grinned as well. "But you have another poison that works faster?" He asked, his voice rising eagerly.

Sakura nodded. "Yeah, it's not crippling, but it takes effect after ten minutes. It's not exactly painful and with enough chakra running through your system it doesn't actually drop you."

Naruto's head fell in disappointment. Sasuke waited for her to continue.

"But, even with chakra it slows you down, slowly, almost without you noticing." She didn't stop the evil grin slowly spreading over her face. "Which means, the longer we fight, the weaker Kakashi becomes, on top of any fatigue he accumulates while fighting us."

"You're great Sakura!" Naruto shouted, pumping his fist into the air.

Sasuke snorted, but nodded as well. "Still leaves the problem of tagging him with the poison though." He pointed out evenly.

Naruto shrugged. "We attack him, till he leaves an opening for Sakura to throw a kunai at him."

He waved his hands dismissively.

"And if she hit's us? Or Kakashi uses us to shield himself from her attacks? No we need to plan this carefully." Sasuke glared at the blond.

Sakura looked over at Kakashi, who grinned happily as he read his book.

Jirayia and Anko laughed raucously at some joke and didn't pay any attention either.

It infuriated her that they dismissed them so easily, as if giving them the time to plan wouldn't make much of a difference.

She sighed, as she listened to the boys plan, which involved insulting each other as much as actually planning the assault.

Only because Kakashi did give them the time to plan did they stand a chance at all, so she shouldn't complain.

"Ok boys. Sasuke's right, Naruto you distract Kakashi, Sasuke is backup and makes sure Kakashi can't actually hurt you." She send a glare at Sasuke. "That means you won't attack him unless you are absolutely sure he can't dodge. I'll give both of you one kunai with the poison."

Both boys nodded. She also noticed that neither complained about their part in the plan. She managed to suppress her resigned laugh.

Only a month ago she wouldn't have dared criticize Sasuke like that. And now, that she did, he actually listened. She should have started acting this way, far, far earlier.

In hindsight, the only way to distinguish herself from the rest of the girls was, obviously, to do what they didn't. Criticize him and help him close the holes in his fighting style. Adoring his every move had been so obviously the wrong way to go about it.

Then again, actually getting him hadn't been the goal of the exercise. Having fun trying to get him was.

"What about you?" Sasuke asked, he blinked slowly, only now realizing they hadn't included her in their plans at all.

Naruto looked at her curiously, though that little fact probably hadn't registered with him at all.

"Me?" She tapped her lips slowly. "Hmm, I think I'll stay in the back and chuck kunai at him, as if they were on sale."

Both boys looked at each other, eyebrows raised. "Uhh." Naruto muttered.

Sasuke gestured for her to continue, impatiently. Which suited Sakura just fine. They could have included her from the beginning.

"Naruto, you have to make sure he's very, very distracted. Sasuke make sure he's actually were he's supposed to be. If he activates the sharingan, make sure he's not looking at the ground." She pulled out a bit of wire, flashed her hands through a few seals Kakashi had shown her, and the wire disappeared.

"And Kakashi will have a nice little surprise waiting for him all over the ground. You'll also have to make sure he stays in the clearing. I've only got so much range. And if the kunai move, it would be suspicious."

"You think cheering us on will make him dismiss you?" Sasuke asked.

Sakura raised an eyebrow in response.

Sasuke nodded, a little grin on his face. "Yeah, would only make him suspicious."

Naruto on the other hand rubbed his chin in thought. "Maybe not cheer us on, but direct us?"

Sasuke and Sakura looked at him as if he had grown a second head. Since when did Naruto have ideas like that one? Sakura wondered.

It had started in wave, she decided. From then on, every now and then it seemed that two or more braincells came together and hatched something that could only be called a good idea.

"Yeah that..."

"Ok, you had more than enough time to hash out a plan. We've been merciful so far, but if you don't start attacking now, I'm gonna join scarecrow there in beating you to a bloody pulp. I'm bored here!" Anko interrupted them.

Sakura growled and shouted at her teacher. "We were just done, damn it! Stop bothering us!"

Sakura quickly handed them a kunai each, while Anko laughed in response. "Less words, more action please!"

"Fine!" Sakura said. "Naruto attack, Sasuke make sure the idiot doesn't hurt himself!"

Putting it like that was kinda risky. It could make Naruto angry and resent Sasuke, but if her directions were to be believable, they would have to be authentic.

Which meant preferring Sasuke over Naruto, even if Naruto had the more important task. Sasuke just had to make sure Kakashi stayed in reach, didn't manage to escape and didn't incapacitate Naruto. Who would have to hound him, and push him into distraction constantly, while also defending himself and tacking any hits that Kakashi managed to sneak through his and Sasuke's defense.

But Naruto took the insult in stride, a wild grin on his face. "Come on bastard, let's show her who's best!"

Sasuke didn't grin, not really. But the way he carried himself spoke volumes. He was as exited as Naruto about this fight.

With a scream Naruto charged Kakashi, recklessly engaging their foe, throwing a few wild punches.

Kakashi sighed deflecting the punches without any effort.

Until Sasuke attacked him from behind, flinging a few kunai at his exposed back.

Kakashi jumped back, letting the kunai pass below him and into Naruto.

Sakura swore she would kill Sasuke if he screwed this up.

But Naruto pushed through the barrage, which barely missed him. If he still wore his jacket it would have actually touched him, Sasuke had cut it close, but with impossible accuracy.

Sakura grinned, as Kakashi came down right in front of Naruto, but slightly off balance and exposed to attack.

Naruto didn't waste any time doing just that, as he spun into a kick aimed at Kakashi's head. Which the jonin easily deflected. He grabbed Naruto's leg and prepared to throw him around a bit.

Until Sasuke slammed a kunai into Kakashi's shoulder, or attempted to. Kakashi jumped back again, abandoning Naruto in his bid for freedom and health.

Sakura took it as her cue and flung two kunai of her own.

One flew straight at Kakashi, the other she aimed for his landing spot. Both Naruto and Sasuke had recovered from the failed attack and followed her kunais closely.

"Naruto, use your damn clones!" Sakura shouted angrily at the two. Kakashi could easily evade them with only the two, maybe tree attacks a second.

In fact, he had deflected her first kunai with one of his own, and used the second one to change his direction in mid air. Showoff.

"Honestly, if that's the best you can do I don't see you guys winning the tournament at all." He taunted them cheerfully.

"Raaaah!" Sakura screamed, flinging four kunai at him, three missed him by a mile, the other would have only scratched his shoulder, if he hadn't leaned slightly to the side.

"Sloppy, Sakura I expected better..."

Twenty clones of Naruto slammed into Kakashi and buried him under their weight.

"He's on a tree to your left!" Sasuke shouted and immediately the clones sprang up again and attacked the tree Kakashi had chosen as his hiding space.

Sakura could see Sasuke smirking. As he followed the Jonin's movement.

Kakashi, pulled out his little book and grinned at the clones below him. "Looks like I have to remind you guys why I'm the..." He ducked under the twenty fake kunai coming his way from the clones, slammed a fist into the first clone in reach, spun on his leg kicking two more away, pulled out a kunai and threw it at another clone.

The clone dissipated, as the kunai touched him. The kunai on the other hand switched directions and slammed into three more clones.

Sakura whistled quietly, in under three seconds Kakashi had destroyed six clones. All with one hand.

"See you can't..." He really should stop attempting to taunt them tho.

All three of them flung kunai at him, and most of Naruto's clones had decided to go for his legs.

Kakashi's eye narrowed, for a split second, before he seemed to disappear.

"Naruto!" Sasuke screamed, tackling the boy, a second before Kakashi would have plowed his fist into Naruto's face.

Four more of Naruto's clones had been destroyed in Kakashi's charge.

Sakura wondered if they could actually touch him like this. He moved faster than she though possible.

But both Naruto and Sasuke had already gotten up. Unfortunately Kakashi had recovered faster and charged them again.

Sakura flung two more kunai, directly between them, this time not hiding the wire at all.

Kakashi stopped practically immediately and jumped back, even as she let the wire follow him.

He weaved over, under and around the kunai relentlessly following after him. She could just imagine him smiling under his mask.

She flung another kunai at him, while controlling the other two with only one hand, this one closing in on him from the other side, forcing him to retreat straight ba... forward, towards her!

She pulled back, eyes widening. Shit he was fast, if she didn't hurry he would.

Ten Naruto's slammed into him, forcing him to stop and defend himself.

The fact that he destroyed them in even less time than it took him to destroy the first six scared her even more.

How were they supposed to beat him?

Sasuke appeared directly behind Kakashi, kunai raised high over his head.

Kakashi didn't bother turning around, he simply kicked the boy away in an almost lazy back kick.

From the other side Naruto attacked, stabbing at Kakashi stomach. With no success whatsoever.

Kakashi simply grabbed his hand and pulled him him in, spun and then threw him after Sasuke.

Sakura took the opportunity to throw some more kunai at his exposed back. Only to find him gone by the time her kunai reached him.

His fist reached her face just fine however and flung her into a three several feet behind her.

"Urg." She groaned and spit out some blood. That had hurt and nearly knocked her out as well. Sh could only see stars for a few seconds.

Still, she sprung up, searching for Kakashi and sighed in relive. Several of Naruto's clones had engaged the man again, forcing his attention away form Sakura.

Sasuke attempted a sneak attack this time, staying behind Kakashi at all times, while Naruto send more and more clones out to die a painless and quick death.

But they had his attention again, barely.

"He's noticed you Sasuke, retreat!" She shouted. Luckily she had noticed the traitorous flicker of Kakashi's eye.

And with that Naruto's clone's stopped being a trap and Kakashi stopped playing with them.

In an instant they were destroyed. She hadn't even seen Kakashi move!

Sasuke gasped, his sharingan spinning uselessly in the face of Kakashi's insane speed.

Sakura forced herself to revise her translation of Kakashi's previous look.

It probably meant something more along the lines of: "You are all my toys and even if you work as a team, there is no way I'll ever let you win against me."

Her left eye developed a rather annoyed twitch.

"You bastard!" She screamed and charged him, until Naruto slammed into her and stopped her.

"Lemme go, I'll rearrange his stupid constantly grinning face!" She screamed, flinging the two kunai she still held at Kakashi. The kunai fell down long before they even reached him, held by Naruto she lacked any leverage.

Kakashi merely chuckled. "You punks are still far too young to even touch me sorry."

"Naruto, get him into the middle of the clearing now." Sakura whispered in his ear.

"Naruto, either let go and kick his ass, or get out of my face!" She shouted out loud.

Naruto nodded at her, a grim smile on his lips. "Sure Sakura-chan."

"Sasuke help him!" She screamed, she noticed that her voice wavered somewhat. This would be their only chance, if Kakashi had noticed the wires the plan would fail and so would their one chance at winning.

Screaming Naruto charged Kakashi again. However, this time over 40 clones accompanied him, and even Kakashi's eye widened for a second, before he charged the clones.

Sasuke looked at Sakura for instructions. "Help Naruto idiot!" She shouted back.

Sasuke looked at Naruto, who had positioned himself dead center behind his clones, waiting for Kakashi to break through.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes again, then flung kunai after kunai at Kakashi, coincidentally destroying any clones straying too far from the center.

Sakura flung kunai of her own, missing Kakashi by almost nothing. Not that that meant she actually came any closer to hitting him.

And suddenly all clones were gone, Kakashi stood in front of Naruto and time seemed to still, as jonin and student looked each other in the eyes.

Sasuke charged from behind, his eyes giving Sakura all the information she needed to track Kakashi.

Her hands moved, one fluid motion, just as Kakashi had shown her, her chakra moved with the motion, flowing down the wires, as they sprang up, still invisible.

Kakashi's eye widened as he seemed to feel the wires move, he certainly hadn't seen them.

He jumped up, but Sakura had managed to move three wires above him, which stopped his ascend, another two wires wound themselves around his legs, four around his arms. With a twitch of her fingers they slammed his arms into his body.

Or should have. Her eyes widened as he forced his arms away from his body, breaking her hold on him.

Until she moved the last three wires she had available,and forced them to wind themselves around his body, attempting to bind his arms to it. She simply didn't have the purchase to force his arms onto his body with the wires wound around them.

She could only stare in disbelieve, as he forced even those wires away, and moved his hands together, ready to start some jutsu or another. She forced more chakra into the wires, now attempting to move his arms away from each other, kinda like a puppet she reflected.

He frowned, as his arms stopped moving for a second and nodded to her, before she felt a pulse of chakra through the wire around his arms.

With a push his hands came together, actually pulling Sakura forward. She felt her control ripped away, as Kakashi's chakra surged into the wires, replacing her own.

She forced her own chakra back into the wire, but it would be far too late, he already had finished his seals.

And Naruto slammed into him, distracting him, just long enough for Sakura to regain control of her wires and force his hands apart again.

For 2 entire seconds. Then Kakashi had headbutted Naruto away, somehow sliced through the wires holding him and turned to her.

With a grimace of pain on his face, as Sasuke quickly jumped away from him. A blood slick kunai in his hand.

Sasuke smirked at his teacher, twirling the kunai around his fingers.

"Seems we managed to scratch you sensei." He taunted, managing to hold himself up, though Sakura could see that Kakashi must have gotten him somehow, from the very slight slouch Sasuke had.

Naruto pushed himself up feeling his nose for any injuries, before he joined the taunting.

"Yeah, did you see that? We showed you what we can do!"

Sakura merely panted, she had used so much chakra controlling all the wires. And not just chakra, also concentration, keeping them all apart, making sure they didn't get into each others way. And stopping them as soon as they touched Sasuke or Naruto...

She had lost control of the ones holding Kakashi down almost as soon as she bound his legs, afterward she had only been able to focus on the ones binding his arms.

She would have to practice a lot more till she could be useful with the wires on her own.

Never mind the way he simply destroyed her control by forcing his own chakra into the wire.

Kakashi chuckled, shaking his head. "Not bad, I mean sure, I did hold back a lot."

That was him holding back? Sakura groaned, how were they supposed to beat him?

"But still, for you to actually hit me... not bad at all, not bad at all. Especially since you used a poisoned kunai. If Anko hadn't already given me every antidote to the poisons she taught Sakura I might actually be in trouble." He grinned at them.

Sakura would have loved to wipe that grin of his face, with as many kunai as she could.

Naruto slumped to the ground in defeat, Sasuke glowered impotently and Anko and Jirayia laughed at them openly.

Sakura let herself fall on the grass. She needed a rest.

"You have half an hour, before you fight Anko." Kakashi told them.

And Sakura felt an icy claw, clench her heart. She looked at Anko, who looked, who looked... oh god they were all gonna die!

--o--

Sakura dragged herself towards the hospital. Sasuke and Naruto might scoff at the thought, but Sakura preferred to have her wounds looked at. She didn't have Naruto's ability to bounce back from any wound in record time, or Sasuke's ability to just ignore any wound he might have incurred until it went away.

She hurt all over, even in places she didn't know could hurt.

Anko hadn't been so bad, she only targeted what could be seen.

Jirayia on the other hand... what a cruel, cruel bastard. His seals should be considered cruel and unusual punishment. As long as they were used on her. Using them on Orochimaru? Well, he had it coming.

She groaned, if she didn't hurry the hospital would be closed soon.

"Sakura?" A timid voice asked from behind her.

Weakly she turned her head. Hinata stood behind her, looking down at her worriedly.

"What happened? You look horrible!" Hinata shook slightly, as she took in every single bruise and cut she could see on Sakura.

Considering the state of her clothes utterly ruined and exposing large amounts of her body, she could see a lot of them. Sakura felt lucky that the remains covered her enough to protect her modesty at least.

"Hello Hinata." She groaned out, whispered really. Screaming instructions at Naruto and Sasuke for the entire day... her voice had given up around 5. And then she had forced another two hours out of it.

"Just a particularly rough day of training." She didn't whimper as Hinata steadied her. Getting to the hospital faster would deal with her pain faster.

"Are you going to the hospital?" Hinata asked her.

Sakura managed to lift her head in a weak nod, before letting it drop down again. She was just so tired.

Never mind the training, her nights hadn't been particularly restful either.

"I'll help you get there." Hinata said, her voice hard, accepting no denial.

"Thanks." Sakura muttered. She should have just accepted Naruto's offer. But she would be damned if she showed weakness in front of her teammates.

--o--

Sasuke dropped into his bed, a satisfied smile on his face.

He couldn't move at all, he hurt worse than ever before, and it was glorious. This, this was what he had been looking for. Training so hellish he just had to be catching up to Itachi.

None of this coddling him and praising him for his genius. He didn't need that, he needed the most effective training available.

Now if only he could still move, all would be well.

He had to make sure...

He fell asleep exactly 3 seconds after landing in his bed.

--o--

Naruto looked at Jirayia, as the old man sat beside him on the roof of his apartment.

"So, you are going to teach me?" He asked the man.

Jirayia nodded. "Yeah you caught my interest today. Not many would be able to keep going after this training. And here you are, fresh as daisies." He ruffled the blondes hair.

Naruto didn't exactly agree with that statement. Sure, he could fight on. But really if he, for example leaned back and watched the sky, he would...

--o--

Jirayia grinned at the sleeping blonde. Even with his enhanced stamina the day had been too much. As soon as he had rested his head for a second he was out like a light.

Jirayia thought back to the training.

It had been different than he expected. The three genin had managed to tag every teacher at least once.

True, they had all held back somewhat, but still the kids were talented. Naruto's stamina and determination, not to mention raw talent. Sasuke's genius and budding sharingan. And Sakura's freakish ability to control over ten wires simultaneously, for a few seconds at least. If she learned to do that in only one week...

But most importantly... teamwork, teamwork far beyond most teams.

He snorted. This was the great Irony of the ninja world. Every village preached teamwork. Most thought Konoha had mastered it the best. And that was the truth.

However, just because you were the best didn't necessarily mean you were a master.

In the end, it came down to individual ninja fighting individual enemies. Actual teamwork could be observed once in a blue moon.

But here, as soon as Sakura joined the team it just worked, previously Sasuke and Naruto couldn't get over their pride, as soon as Sakura joined them she acted as a bridge, allowing them to help her and thus each other, instead of directly aiding their rival.

In fact, only one team surpassed team 7 on teamwork, well, two now that their children had also become a team.

Maybe Konoha would actually become good at this teamwork thing they preached so much about, instead of having one ninja carrying the entire team to victory. They had three teams practicing it already after all.

--o--

They reached the hospital 30 minutes before it closed. Sakura grunted gratefully at Hinata.

"Thanks, wouldn't have made it in time without you." She whispered.

"It was a pleasure." Hinata dragged her to the front desk.

"You didn't have to. You went out of your way..." Sakura continued, but Hinata interrupted her.

"I didn't. I was on the way to the hospital when I reached you." She said, and smiled at the receptionist.

"Hinata-chan, and Sakura! Oh, you don't look good Sakura, didn't we just release you a week ago?"

The receptionist greeted them and frowned worriedly at Sakura.

"She's just training very hard." Hinata said, her voice filled with admiration. "I know I couldn't work that hard."

Sakura wanted to say something, she really did, but it took all her strength, and will to simply not fall asleep, right there on the desk.

In any case, the receptionist more than made up for her. "No way Hinata, I'm sure you are doing just fine!"

Sakura nodded weakly, she wondered how she would hold up without the three soldier pills she had used today. Probably dead in a ditch somewhere. And what a difference it made when you used them only at the point of total exhaustion.

Hinata looked down at Sakura, biting her lip. It was clear she didn't believe the receptionist.

"Umm, Sakura, will you be alright? I have to go and see Shino." Hinata said, quietly.

"Huh?" Sakura perked up, a tiny bit. "Shino's hurt?" She remembered the silent boy, well his coat at least. Frowning she tried to recall him at the prelim, but he hadn't been there, had he? She couldn't remember. "I didn't know." She added, a bit of guilt filling her.

She had been so wrapped up in her training... well, she doubted Ino new about this either. As she had mentioned to Naruto a week ago, they really should meet with the other teams more, get to know them again. They barely even talked with their classmates anymore

Hinata waved her worries away however. "It's nothing serious. He got a gash in the forest, and didn't want to worry us. It became infected however and by the time of the prelim he couldn't fight. He just watched."

So he had been there, and Sakura hadn't even noticed him.

Ugh lay on the guilt any thicker, will you.

"He's been recovered already, but the doctors wanted to keep him in for observation. I'm just coming by to tell him about our training schedule tomorrow."

Sakura moved her head a bit, that made sense. And damn, the reception desk made a damn good bed. She tried to crawl on top of it, but the receptionist stopped her.

"Hinata-chan, why don't you bring Sakura to room," she checked the book in front of her for a second. "114? She can rest there, until a doctor can see her."

"Of course." Hinata bowed slightly to the woman and grabbed Sakura, dragging her away from her nice soft bed.

"Stoppid, tired." Sakura muttered, feebly attempting to resist the monster who dragged her away from rest.

She barely noticed Hinata picking her up and carrying her quickly through the hospital.

She watched the doors go bye, with half closed eyes. A few doors were open, to let some air flow through the room.

In one such room Sakura could see a blond girl, talking to a dark haired boy, a boy with weird face paint... her eyes widened, Temari! She had totally forgotten about the girl, outside of her nightmares. But it appeared she was still in the hospital.

But Hinata had carried her on already and the brief surge of adrenalin at the sight of the girl had ebbed away again.

"Here we are." Hinata said, looking down to make sure Sakura was still awake. "Room 114."

She carried Sakura over to the nice, big, fluffy bed. Sakura would have to deal with Temari tomorrow, for now...

--o--

Hinata giggled as she watched Sakura drift into sleep the second her head hit the pillow. She decided to wait for the doctor, she could tell Shino after visiting hours were over. Nobody would notice her after all.


	8. Count your Tails

Expectations of Development

--o--

Count your Tails

--o--

Once again Sakura woke up in a hospital bed. This time however, without any pain and well rested.

Which, she decided made this a good morning. The fact that she didn't wake up screaming due to nightmares today just added to it.

Now, on to the more important questions. How did she get here? She remembered getting beaten into the ground by Kakashi, Anko and Jirayia, then stumbling through the streets of Konoha, trying to make her way to the hospital.

She had made slow progress, moving hurt. Until she came across Hinata, who had carried her the rest of the way. Or dragged her, that part was kinda hazy.

She looked at the ceiling, enjoying the soft mattress beneath her. Ahh heaven.

Ok. Hinata had, after a brief chat with the reception desk, carried her to this room.

And the second she hit the bed Sakura had been out like a light.

Mystery solved. She pushed her sheets back and stood up. She still wore her clothes from yesterday. Her clothes form yesterday she trained all day in. She didn't bother checking, she just had to be reeking.

Glancing around the room she spotted a neatly folded pile of clothes on a chair. Upon closer inspection it turned out to be a uniform. A little note on it proclaimed it lend to her, for today and that they expected it back at the end of the week. Cleaned please.

She grinned and made her way to the little shower stall. How nice of them.

--o--

After a hot shower and clean clothes Sakura felt even better. This day shaped up to be extremely pleasant already.

She stretched and walked out of her room.

She still had an hour or two before she had to show up for training. Breakfast sounded good and she should probably tell her parents that she was alright. And drop off her clothes, couldn't forget that.

She walked through the hospital slowly, listening to the sounds of people preparing for the day.

It surprised her slightly how quite the hallways were in the morning. But then, it hadn't been exactly loud when she visited the last time, just a bit more background noise. She stopped in front of a door, not exactly sure why.

She frowned, something about last night?

Carefully she pushed the door open. On the bed slept a blond girl, a familiar blond girl.

So that's why she stopped. She remembered Temari from yesterday. Weird, shouldn't she be at home? In her own village? It had been a week already, surely they would want her to be close to home?

Especially since she had lost. No reason to stay here at all. Unless you counted being the daughter of the Kazekage as a reason. A daughter Sakura had nearly eviscerated...

Maybe an apology would be in order? And a little talk, it may even help with her nightmares?

Yes, that sounded like a good idea.

So Sakura settled down in one of the visitor chairs, waiting for Temari to wake up, planning out what she would say.

--o--

Temari woke up to a foreign presence in her room. It couldn't be one of her doctors, she had their presence memorized. Not Kankuro either and Gaara never visited anyway. Baki had returned home to prepare for the finals, so he was out as well. Never-mind that she would have recognized him as well.

Maybe a new doctor? She continued to fake sleep. She didn't like staying in Konoha, but she had to admit, their doctors were top notch. She could barely feel her wound anymore, if she didn't move too much, after only one week. In Suna that would have taken at least a month to heal to this degree.

They just didn't believe in coddling their ninja as much as Konoha. She might have to bring that up with her father, a week of recovery time meant three weeks of active duty instead of tying up medics with her recovery.

That still left her with the question of who. Who had invaded her room?

Maybe a sound nin? With a message for her?

"Could you stop pretending to sleep? Your eyes move like crazy and you twitched just now." A female voice interrupted her thoughts, a voice she recognized.

Her eyes shot open and the girl who had send her to the hospital sprung into view, calmly sitting in the chair at the end of her bed.

She looked back at Temari with a slightly cocked head, trying to hide her nervousness. She succeeded somewhat, but biting her lower lip was a dead give away.

"What do you want?" Temari asked, making her voice as cold as possible. It hid her fear better.

Since the fight she had nightmares. And every time she saw a girl that seemed to be a pathetic weakling pass her room she twitched. Seeing Haruno's face superimposed on the other girls.

Haruno's face had changed as soon as Temari opened her mouth, she banished her nervousness and replaced it with a cold sneer.

Temari flashed back to their battle, the same cold sneer had appeared at the end, just after Haruno rammed her kunai into Temari's stomach.

She gulped and barely restrained herself from twitching back.

Sometimes, in her nightmares the proctor didn't stop Haruno. Instead he declared her killing Temari as deserved punishment for the planned invasion.

And sometimes he just wasn't there, just her and Haruno. And in the beginning Temari dominated the fight. Until she closed in, closed in and taunted her opponent.

Then it all changed and suddenly Temari lay crumbled on the floor, bleeding profoundly, while Haruno stood silently above her, a twisted smile on her face, kunai above her head, ready to cut Temari open from head to toe.

"I want to..." Haruno opened her mouth but trailed of. She looked out of the window, frowning. Whatever she wanted to say it apparently didn't come easy to her.

"What? Twist the knife some more? Taunt me because I lost?" Temari spat bitterly.

She would be doing it. If she had won the way Haruno had. Luring a superior and foolishly arrogant opponent into giving her a perfect opportunity to end the fight.

She should have seen through that transparent display. It had been so over the top. Nobody would throw herself into attacks like that if they didn't have a plan. But she had dismissed the girl as unimportant and stupid. And hadn't looked for the attack she should have known would be coming.

"No." Haruno said, so quietly she almost whispered.

"What then? Come to... come to..." Shit, she had no idea why else the bitch would show up.

She shifted uncomfortable on her chair.

"I... kinda, wanted..." She sighed. "Fuck, I wanted to apologize alright?" She finally got out, her entire face red.

"Apologize?" Temari asked, suppressing the snort she could feel coming.

Damn, but the leaf were soft, incredibly so. Back home nobody would have gotten the idea to apologize for winning!

"Hehehe... hahahahaha!" She couldn't help herself, she just had to laugh, it just came bubbling out. She had been beaten by an idiot! Utterly beaten by some soft weak girl.

She shook her head. "Damn, how could I loose to you? This has to be the most embarrassing moment in my life." She muttered.

"What the fuck is wrong with you bitch?" Haruno sneered. "I come to apologize and you laugh."

"Why wouldn't I? It was a fight, you saw a chance to win and took it. Risky gamble, but you pulled it off. And now you apologize to your enemy. How is that not funny?" Damn, she just couldn't stop giggling.

"You could have died!" She shouted, almost desperately.

"So? Not as if I couldn't every day I'm around my brother." Temari shrugged. Once you hung around Gaara a few weeks death became something of a constant companion. You always hoped it would ignore you for just a little while longer.

"What do you mean?" Haruno stared at her, wide eyes and her mouth opened in horrified shock.

"Oh not much, just that my brother is a bloodthirsty psychopath." She shrugged, seeing the dawning realization come over her guest's face, as she quickly went over the implications, as Haruno realized she might have to fight him.

Damn, but that was satisfying.

Haruno narrowed her eyes for a second and smirked at her, shakily. Oh false bravado, how enjoyable you were.

"I don't believe you." She snorted, turning her head just a little bit away, enough to avoid eye contact.

"He'll kill anybody you send against him. There is nothing you can do." Temari said sweetly. "Best thing to do would be to give up. Your precious crush." Heh, let's see how you like having that thrown in your face bitch. "Should also give up. He has no chance to win."

Sakura glared at her. So she had at least some feelings for the boy.

"Bullshit. Sasuke will beat him, he's the best rookie of the year." She nearly, very nearly shouted.

"Eh not enough against Gaara, princess." The girl flinched at the barb, but managed to get herself under control again, fast.

"Why? Because he's your brother? Please, just because he's the son of the Kazekage doesn't mean he's that much better than anybody else. I managed to beat you after all." Haruno sneered at her.

Ok, so the cat had some claws, even outside the battlefield.

"No, not because he's the son of the Kazekage... or maybe because he's the son. But not in the way you think." Damn, she just realized it could have been her. If her father had thought his mad plan up sooner... suddenly she felt very, very glad that Gaara had been the poor sap.

"Huh, what do you mean?" Haruno looked like a confused child like that, so goddamn innocent. No matter how tough she made herself appear. In the end she couldn't hide the child she was.

"He's a monster. Gaara I mean. My father made damn sure of that." She chuckled as the other girl recoiled in horror.

"What? What did he do?" She asked, tears shining in her eyes.

"He sealed a demon in my brother." She smirked, that should give the little... fuck!

Haruno's face had gone blank, just a second after Temari had realized what she just said.

"A demon eh? Interesting." Haruno muttered, all traces of Innocence gone from her face, instead she looked calculating.

"Damn it, how could I fall for the same thing again!" Temari muttered to herself.

"Because you mistake compassion for weakness." Haruno shrugged, as she got up from her chair. "I doubt you will tell me what his demon does?" She looked expectantly at her, but she wouldn't get any answer.

"You wish bitch." She spat.

"Heh." Haruno shrugged, walking to the door, but she stopped and looked over her shoulder. "By the way, if you wanted to defeat a demon rampaging through your village. What would you do?" She asked, all wide eyed innocence.

"Huh? What the hell is that... about...?" She trailed off, an icy hand grabbing her heart. "No... way..." Her eyes widened.

"So how many tails does your demon have? Ours has nine." And with a horrible smirk Haruno left the room.

Temari sat in her bed, shivering. Konoha had the nine tails! Konoha had the nine tails! How the fuck were they supposed to beat that? Gaara had only one!

She whimpered, where ever they kept their Jinchuriku, as soon as Gaara transformed they would bring it out. And then... then... she had to tell Baki, the plan had just gone from a sure win to a horrible, horrible gamble.

How could father have overlooked this? The nine tails destroyed? If you could turn it into a weapon?

Konoha soft? They used that reputation for softness like a weapon. A lie, told to their enemies in order to lull them in false security. A lie that made them underestimate Konoha, all the while they gathered weapons like the nine tails, hidden from view, only brought out when they needed it.

--o--

Sakura leaned back against the wall. A demon. Gaara had a demon inside of him. Fuck. How to beat that? Could she beat that? Could anyone?

And... what about the Kyuubi?

"He sealed a demon in my brother." Temari's words rang through her head again and again.

Seals could do that? Why had her teachers all been so worried about Naruto's seal? What would happen if something went wrong with it? They never had bothered to explain.

And Naruto didn't want to explain either. Not that they had a chance to ask him for an explanation yet, but she had seen his worry as she and Sasuke looked at his seal.

Her breathing came fast and harsh. Hyperventilating. She had to get herself under control.

And did she just tell Temari that they had the nine tails under control? Well, it might be true... for a given value of control if Naruto did turn out to be the one the nine tails had been sealed into.

She stumbled through the halls of the hospital.

"Don't play with him, he's bad news."

She had heard that from a lot of adults, when talking about Naruto. Always, she had assumed it had been because of his pranks. But now... now she had a better theory. Damn.

She leaned against the wall, she felt like throwing up.

Naruto was... Naruto...

No, he couldn't be the fox! Just couldn't be. The fox was a monster, full of hate and lust for dead and destruction. Naruto had been horrified by the revelation that she had enjoyed killing those bastards.

She would make a better Kyuubi than Naruto.

So, so he couldn't be the Kyuubi.

She nodded. And the Hokage would never let him become a ninja, if he thought there to be any chance Naruto was the fox, right?

Right!

Still, she needed to know more. The adults wouldn't talk, they hadn't for 12 years, they wouldn't start now.

Which left... she smiled fondly, the library. Even if she hadn't gone there in a while, she still remembered it fondly, and as one of her favorite places.

She pushed herself off the wall. She would have maybe an hour, to find a book about demons and sealing them. Or, more likely a book about seals, that might mention sealing demons.

Not much, especially since most information would probably be restricted... but, before she confronted Naruto, she would need some more information. She couldn't just confront him without any proof.

Well, she could . But really she would like something more solid for her own peace of mind.

--o--

Sasuke groaned as he pushed himself out of bed.

He hurt all over, not that he minded. In fact, he reveled in it.

Finally somebody pushed him to his limits and beyond. Going up against Jirayia had shown him just how weak he still was. But it also showed him where he could go.

The old man had played with them even more than Kakashi, again and again fooling them with illusions, not genjutsu mind you. But simply the illusion that they had managed to corner him.

And then, at the last second he broke out the pain, beat them all back merciless. Shattered Sasuke's believe in his speed and pushed him harder than ever, in order to escape form the pain his fists promised.

He worked the kinks out of his shoulders. And padded into his kitchen.

He frowned. Since a week ago, whenever he wandered into the kitchen he felt... disappointed.

As if he missed something.

--o--

Libido stood his ground, the position provided him with a choke point, only two Itachi's could attack him at once here. And against two he could prevail. For a little while at least.

He glanced back, at the broken and beaten figure.

Family. He found Family in one of the fortresses dotting the wasteland.

He had managed to sneak in, past the patrols and guards manning it. He had hoped to find some food, lately there had been little to go around. Instead he found her in one of the dungeons.

Beaten, abused... and worse... he tried not to think about it.

At first look she seemed to be dead. But once he got closer... he could see her shudder, ever so slightly.

He couldn't just leave her there. Some of the blood on her had been fresh...

So he grabbed her and made his escape.

He looked different now too, in the last few days he had grown. No longer a little boy, he looked like a teen now. Strong and proud. He could hold his own against two Itachi's easily. Sadly he still couldn't fight an army of them.

And they had noticed his escape with Family.

From there it had become a mad dash, interrupted only by the occasional desperate battle.

Finally he had reached the pass of awkward mornings, where he decided to make his stand. If he could just hold out long enough Family might wake up. But after a quick glance, any hope for a quick recovery had been shattered.

Family simply laid on the ground, barely breathing.

But, he had committed himself to this now and escape had ceased to be an option.

He looked over the mass of Itachi's. His worst loss would probably come today. Beaten back into the ground, like so many times before.

He chuckled, if he could just, somehow, make Family escape... it would be worth it.

Then he saw him. Pride, wading through the Itachi's. His goal clear, eliminate the pest who dared use him.

Shit, he could beat an Itachi, even two. Against Pride, who could beat every Itachi present? No chance, none at all.

Pride loosened his sword, frowning angrily at Libido.

Damn, damn, damn. So, this was it. Back to the beginning again. Scavenging to survive, running away or getting beaten again and again.

He wouldn't cry, it wouldn't help.

He deflected an attack from the Itachi to his right, slipped into his guard and eviscerated him with a quick slash, spun around, blocked the attack form the other Itachi and rammed his sword into the creatures chest.

Which left him utterly undefended, as Prides sword came down on his head.

He smiled as he watched Family. At least he would die before her. He closed his eyes.

Metal met metal in a sharp clash, ringing in his ears. He felt no pain though.

Slowly he opened his eyes. The Itachi's had pulled back, and Pride growled angrily at... Libido stared at the girl in front of him. Pink hair, billowing in the wind, a sword, engrave with the name Naruto in her hand.

Teamwork had arrived.

He laughed, he couldn't help himself, Teamwork! He never thought she would ever help him. Last time he saw her Pride had lopped of her head. He had thought that would be the last time he saw her. And maybe it had been. The Teamwork he had seen killed, had black hair.

But here she stood, pink hair and stronger than ever. She towered over pride smirked at the Itachi's and beckoned them to get closer.

"You ready Libido?" She asked and he could hear the grin in her voice.

He grinned himself he realized. "Yeah, let's send them back to hell."

--o--

He didn't miss waking up to have them around.

They had slept here for one night! Just one, measly night!

How could he miss that? It didn't make sense.

No matter, how much more pleasant the morning had been with them here.

It didn't matter to him that he hadn't felt that lonely anymore. They couldn't replace his fami...

He stopped short. Were they trying to replace his family? They couldn't...

He shook his head. Of course they weren't trying to replace his family. They had just been trying to get him.

Paranoia might have a place in the life of a ninja. But, as with so many things in life, overdoing it only led to trouble.

They probably didn't even think in those terms and while they might enjoy the idea of become part of his family...

Bah, why think about it. He didn't have the time for this.

No matter how Sakura might disagree. He didn't have the time to deal with them every damn morning. They would take three times as long to get ready. Unless they moved into a bigger house of course. With more than one bathroom. Then having one of them prepare breakfast...

He blinked, seriously? Did he just start planning how to live with Ino and Sakura? He shuddered. And looked at the rice on his plate.

Carefully he pushed it away. Had to be something wrong with it. Had to be. Next he might invite Naruto to life with them.

Shuddering he made his way to the shower. Once he woke up fully such thoughts would hopefully disappear and never return.

No matter how pleasant part of them might be.

--o--

Sakura turned the last page, flew over the words and slammed the book shut.

Stretching she looked around. Well, hadn't this been interesting? She still couldn't be sure that Naruto did indeed carry the Kyuubi. However her suspicions had gained some substance.

She also had found a new interest. Seals. They were pretty damn amazing. She knew about them of course, but like many ninja she never thought about them. For good reason. Not only were they hellishly complicated. The interesting one's at least, but also very dangerous.

Which honestly, she should have realized the second Sasuke had gotten his.

Still, she bet she would be able to learn most basic seals quickly. Another weapon to add to her arsenal.

Ohh, her muscles protested as she made her way to the checkout. The book might not go into any details, but it provided quite a bit of basic information and ideas. More than enough to get her started.

She would probably have to go and ask Jirayia to teach her, if she wanted to get some real results though.

Lucky her, he would probably hang around to keep an eye on Naruto's seal.

She smiled at the old nin at the checkout, who busied himself with a book, quietly turning page after page.

"Sakura, you done?" He asked, as he noticed her. He didn't bother looking up from his book.

"Yes, I would like to rent this one." She held it up.

He merely glanced at it and nodded. "Interesting choice. I hope you do realize you won't be able to learn sealing from that one?"

She nodded, still smiling pleasantly. Did he really think she would be stupid enough to fail to notice?

"And shouldn't you be training by now?" Now he did look at her. "I heard you are in the tournament."

She stumbled and slowly glanced at the clock over the entrance.

"Oh shit! I'm late!" She screamed, as she stormed out of the Library, the old mans laughter in her ears.

She had been so focused on the book she totally forgot about training! Which wouldn't have been so bad around one week ago. But now Kakashi showed up on time. And worse Anko enjoyed punishing her! Never mind the fact that she forgot breakfast.

She flew along the main road, dodging and weaving around the various human obstacles.

She passed Hinata and Shino, ran twenty more meters before she stopped and turned. It wouldn't make a difference if she came late by an hour or an hour and 5 minutes.

"Hey you two." she greeted them.

"Hello Sakura-chan." Hinata returned her greeting.

"Sakura-san." Shino bowed his head slightly.

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "You would get along well with Sasuke I think. I can just imagine it. The two of you, just sitting there staring at the sunset. Not saying a single word for hours."

Hinata giggled. "He's not that bad." She defended her teammate.

He nodded, though whether he agreed with Sakura or Hinata, he left unclear.

"What did you wish to discuss?" He asked instead.

Sakura couldn't help but grin at that. "You know, I wonder why nobody noticed, but you are as much the mysterious silent type as Sasuke is." She licked her lips. "If it weren't for the bugs, I bet you would have been in the same situation as he found himself in."

He took a step back, looking at her warily.

"I can assure you, I'm not interested." He said quickly. Sakura thought she could see a slight blush forming. Might be a trick of the light though.

In any case, she didn't stop to flirt with Shino.

Hinata followed the exchange with a tiny grin. So cute!

"Your loss." Sakura shrugged. "I just wanted to invite you guys to dinner. You can tell Kiba to come too."

They glanced at each other in confusion.

"Dinner?" Hinata asked.

Sakura nodded quickly. "Yeah, dinner. Didn't I tell you yesterday that my social life's been shot to hell? I want it back. And meeting with the rest of our class sounds like fun."

"We would love to then." Hinata said quickly. Going by the blush Sakura had a pretty good idea why she agreed.

She looked at Shino who nodded. "That sounds agreeable." He said in his usual monotone. Though there might have been a little... something there.

"Great, I'll talk with Ino, invite her team as well and set a date." Sakura nodded at them. "Gotta go though. I'm pretty late for training as is."

She waved at them and shot away. Hopefully Anko wouldn't be too pissed.

--o--

Naruto looked at the little pile of misery that, only ten minutes earlier, had been Sakura.

He would never, ever be late to any team meetings that involved Anko. Ever!

He glanced at the rest of their expanded team.

Sasuke looked decidedly green. Kakashi actually looked worse. But then, he had the most to fear. So no surprise there.

"Have you learned your lesson Sakura?" Anko growled. And though she asked Sakura, she looked at the rest of them.

Sakura gurgled something that might have been intend to mean yes. But Naruto couldn't be too sure.

Jirayia watched in amusement. He had been the only one Anko couldn't intimidate. Though not for lack of trying.

He simply stood there and nodded. And took notes in his book. Naruto shuddered, whatever it was he wrote there, Naruto wanted nothing to do with it.

"Alright, then. Sakura can have a short rest. 30 minutes." Anko continued, licking her lips as she focused on them again. "You two though, well you just had your rest. So... show me that you learned something from yesterday. If you manage to tag me before the 30 minutes are over, you get the rest of the time as another break!" Anko laughed at them. "Aren't I just too damn nice?"

They glowered at her. Too damn nice? She knew they wouldn't be able to hit her alone. With Sakura? Yeah sure, no problem... maybe not in 30 minutes but eventually they would have gotten her... once.

Sighing he pushed himself up. A break would be nice. Watching Anko wail on Sakura hadn't exactly been relaxing. He had felt every punch that she slipped through Sakura's defense.

He growled at Anko, paying her back for those actually sounded like fun.

"Hey, bastard?" He asked roughly.

"Yes Idiot?" Came the answer. Not loud like Naruto, but angry nevertheless. Just a cold kind of anger. Good.

"You ready to show the snake "lady" here, what we do with those who hurt our teammates?"

Curiously Sasuke drew himself up straighter at that question. He grinned coldly. "Yes, yes I am."

They would teach Anko to hurt Sakura like that.

"You two idiots." Sakura grumbled, as she stepped between them. Breathing heavily, shaking slightly, but standing. "I won't let you go up against her alone."

Naruto sighed. And she had the gall to call them stubborn idiots, when they refused to admit when they needed to stay down.

"You can barely stand Sakura." Sasuke said, rolling his eyes. He took her shoulder and forced her down. "Leave this to us, recover and join us for the next fight."

She opened her mouth to protest, but Sasuke silenced her again. "No, this is teamwork too. You safe your energy to support us, as soon as you will be useful again. There is no point in you stumbling after us, slowing us down and ultimately leading to our loss. And why? Because you were too proud to admit you needed to rest."

Everybody stared at Sasuke. Hell, if Sasuke had just the slightest bit of self-reflection, he would probably stare at himself. Not that he was wrong. But... he didn't exactly practice what he preached.

"And yes, I am aware that I might have made that mistake in the past." He added, glaring at them all.

Sakura looked at him skeptical.

"And I will likely make the same mistake in the future. I'm working on it. Now shut up and let us do this!" He whirled around and stalked towards Anko.

Naruto snorted, nodded at Sakura and followed Sasuke.

"Fine, I'll sit here, but don't expect me to do nothing. I can still be useful even while resting. Somebody needs to be the brain here after all!" She shouted after them.

Naruto glanced at Sasuke, who glanced back. They both grinned madly.

"Are you two idiots done grinning? Or do you need some private time?" Anko roared.

And suddenly Sasuke disappeared, leaving Naruto alone to deal with her.

Not that it stopped Naruto's grin. On the contrary. It felt nice, having backup just waiting for you to create an opening to strike into.

"Yeah yeah "lady". I'm coming, I'm coming. No need to be so eager to get your ass kicked." He taunted her.

Not the smartest move, but an angry Anko... his eyes widened... an angry Anko was still an angry Anko. Oh shit!

He turned tail and fled.

Kunai, poisoned, explosive and whatever else Anko could do to make them even more deadly, crashed into the path he took.

"Ahhh crazy woman!" He shouted as he dodged madly. Why did he let his mouth run away from him? Yes angry opponents made mistakes. Anko just got more dangerous when angry!

"Stop!" Sakura suddenly shouted. And he stopped, yesterday had taught them well. When a teammate told you to do something you did it!

Several kunai crossed his path, right where he would have been if Sakura hadn't stopped him.

"If you help them one more time Haruno, you join their little game, whether they want you to or not!" Anko shouted, her voice wavering with anger.

"Oh shut it!" Sakura fired back.

Naruto grinned, teamwork was beautiful.

He turned on his heels and charged Anko, who had just turned back to him, from shouting at Sakura.

"Hah!" She launched more kunai at him. An impressive number with explosive tags wound around them.

He dodged the kunai easily and his momentum carried him away from the explosions so fast, he barely even felt them.

The few nicks and scratches... eh he got very lucky there. Even if they happened to be poisoned.

He had come soo close. Anko could only watch as his fist reared back, ready to slam into her face and...

--o--

Naruto winced as Anko whipped her foot up in a vicious kick, that could have ripped his head off, if he hadn't replaced himself with a clone. Crazy Bitch.

He created some more clones and send them out to get her. Attacking her head on would just get him beat up and leave her unscathed. They would have to keep her distracted, always on defensive and prepare the real attack in the meantime.

He didn't know what Sasuke planed. But the bastard would tell Sakura, who would give him the info Sasuke needed him to have. Like the need for Anko to be about twenty meters to the south.

Honestly he still wondered how they could work together so well.

Not only did they kinda hate... no, too strong a word. Dislike? Yes, that worked. They kinda disliked each other.

But they also hadn't really worked as a team ever before, well there had been the attack on Zabusa, but Naruto counted that as a fluke. Yesterday though it somehow clicked and suddenly they managed to pull the craziest stunts.

His clones had circled Anko, and started dieing to her fists and blades. But she always had to stretch just a little bit more to reach that clone in the back and always just a little bit more to the south.

Naruto smirked, as he made his way over there. If he had to guess he would say Anko knew exactly where he hid himself.

After all, he just didn't do stealth.

But that suited his teammates just fine. They could do it.

And if he drew the enemies attention. He smiled grimly. Well, then they could do as they pleased.

In addition, if the enemy focused on him, they couldn't hurt his teammates. Which, in Naruto's opinion made this tactic even better.

Still, he had to make sure Anko would be occupied, while he played bait. So he created a few more clones and send them against her.

--o--

Sasuke shook his head as he saw more shadow clones break form the woods. Naruto probably didn't even realize that he just gave his position away.

Luckily it didn't matter. That was the point after all.

Still, he worried slightly. They had done the same thing yesterday. Use Naruto as bait, to lure the jonin into a trap. It had worked then, but would it work again? If only he and Naruto could fight?

He glanced at the sun. Maybe ten minutes had passed. He needed as much, of the promised rest as possible. And Sakura wanted to talk to them about something, so he had to hurry. Which made him sloppy.

But he considered it training for time sensitive missions, which made him feel better about any mistakes he made now. Hopefully he wouldn't repeat them on actual missions.

He glanced at Naruto again. He had arrived and Anko would attack him any second now.

Narrowing his eyes he prepared to jump at her. Only one chance. If they messed this up she would stop playing with them.

Anko jumped forward, through Naruto's clones, grabbed a small tree, used her momentum to swing around it and spring into a jump kick, right at Naruto's head.

Naruto merely leaned to the side, avoiding the kick easily.

He grinned broadly as he righted himself again.

Only to have it snapped right back. As Anko, who had stopped at another tree and pushed herself off of it and back at him, slammed her fist into his face.

But to do that she had sacrificed pretty much all her speed and would probably land awkwardly.

Sasuke jumped down, kunai held close to his body, ready to stab her, as soon as he reached the ground.

His eyes widened as Anko turned her head revealing the familiar demented grin to him. One of her hands shot out, and a snake flew from her coat, wound itself around a tree and pulled Anko out of his attack range! No way...

Suddenly Anko stopped, or slowed down, slightly at least! He grinned, as he saw the wire that had wound itself around her ankle.

Maybe it had bought him enough time to get her.

He landed gracefully and flung his kunai at her, even as he pulled out his next one and followed her.

He would have only seconds...

Anko focused entirely on him now, she had dismissed her snake and cut through the wire. Maybe she had even glared at Sakura, he couldn't be sure.

He focused on her face, watched her eyes for any indication on where she expected his attack. He had to make sure she focused on him.

Only two second had passed, since he dropped from the three, she still hadn't regained all of her balance. He still had a chance!

She had however dodged his kunai with contemptuous ease, he had been too sloppy there, too exited.

Still, another delay no matter how minor.

Three seconds and he had her. His fist lashed out, aiming for her heart.

She used one of her hands to catch herself, the other to help her keep her balance, he could do this!

But she somehow moved with his stab, avoiding the blade by the faintest margins. He stared at her in wide eye disbelieve, watched as she somehow curled up, contorting herself freakishly and jumped at him.

"Gottcha pretty boy!" She shouted excitedly. Hugging him closely, a kunai at his throat.

And why did that happen so often lately?

"Yeah we got you." Naruto said calmly behind her.

Anko went rigid.

"When did you?" She asked, her eyes wide.

"Well, you remember that genjutsu Sakura used to hide her wires?" Naruto grinned at them.

Sasuke sneered at Anko. "She taught it to us yesterday."

"But... it's not supposed to hide humans!" Anko's eyes swung from one to the other.

"It doesn't true. Too many different shapes and all. It does however make you harder to spot. And really, if you focus on me..." Sasuke explained.

"Hehe and if you think I'm out of the fight you wouldn't pay any attention to me anyway." Naruto said.

"But how did you recover that fast?" Anko whined. Sasuke wondered about that himself actually. Naruto had recovered awfully fast.

"Same way you were slowed down. Sakura decided to help me out." He pointed at his leg, where Sasuke could still see the faint impression of a wire. He looked back at Sakura, who glared at them from her position, face first in the dirt and a good three meters away from her original resting place.

"That hurt you know?" She shouted over to them.

Sasuke shook his head. Not as if they had forced her to pull this stunt.

"We win." He told Anko. And with at least a quarter hour to spare.

Anko stared at him, then nodded. "You cheated. She wasn't supposed to help." She glared at Sakura.

"We lied." Sasuke shrugged.

"Hahaha." Anko's hand snapped out and ruffled his hair. "I like your style brat. Fine, you have 30 minutes to rest up. Use them wisely."

"Huh?" Naruto asked, but Sasuke kicked him in the shin. No need to question their good fortune.

"Lets go Naruto, Sakura wants to talk to us." He said.

--o--

Sakura looked at her two teammates. Naruto sat down, a cup of instant ramen in hand, noisily devouring his victory treat.

Sasuke simply sat there, content to look slightly bored. He did however radiate satisfaction at a job well done.

Hmm sexy.

But back to business. How to breach the subject?

Well, maybe the best way would be to mention how she found out... if she found out that is.

"I've had a little chat with Temari today." She said, focusing their attention on her. Well Naruto's attention. Sasuke had been focused on her already.

"Hnn?" He asked.

"What for?" Muttered Naruto.

Sakura shrugged. "Just wanted to apologize for almost killing her. Seemed like the right thing to do. Especially considering I didn't want to kill her."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. But she would like to think he did feel a bit relived at her admission.

She didn't need to guess with Naruto. He made no attempt to hide his elation.

"That's awesome Sakura." He shouted, jumped up and hugged her.

"Ugh, I still have bruises you idiot!" She shouted, as she defended herself from his attack. "We don't all heal as fast as you!" She twitched. Another hint she had overlooked.

He had incredible regenerative powers...

"Hehe, sorry Sakura. I'm just glad that you... you know..." He shrugged uncomfortable.

"Yes, yes. I know." She shrugged his hand, which still rested on her shoulder off. "Still, she didn't want my apology."

"What? Why not?" Naruto shouted almost angrily.

Sasuke snorted. "Because she would consider it a weak gesture."

Sakura looked at him, searching for his feelings on the matter. But she had limited success with that. He hid them pretty well.

"Pretty much. She did however taunt me a bit. Let out an interesting little titbit."

"What did she say?" Naruto leaned forward eagerly.

"Well, apparently her father shoved a demon into her brother." Sakura shrugged, as if it hadn't terrified her. Sasuke would have to go up against Gaara soon. Maybe her and maybe Naruto.

She narrowed her eyes as Naruto flinched back. His hand held protectively over his stomach.

So, there she had it, all the confirmation she needed. She leaned back and watched the sky.

"A demon?" Sasuke asked. "What does that mean?"

Naruto kept quite she noticed. She watched him through half closed eyes.

Ugh, he looked so afraid. She almost didn't have the heart to tell Sasuke, almost. But Sasuke wouldn't care about Naruto having a demon sealed in his stomach... at least he better not care.

"Well, I came late this morning because I was reading up on just that." She pulled her book out. Naruto, amusingly eyed the book as if it contained every crime ever commited and then some.

"It's on page 50. Only a short mention but more than enough to guess." She threw the book at Sasuke. Naruto watched with growing unease, as Sasuke quickly flipped through the pages.

Slowly Sakura let her wires circle around Naruto. He seemed rather... jumpy for some reason.

--o--

Sasuke stared at the page for a few seconds. Then glanced at Naruto. More specifically, he glanced at Naruto's stomach. Where he knew a certain seal stayed hidden, unless Naruto used Chakra.

He glanced at Sakura, who had gone back to staring at the clouds.

And he took a deep breath. So, Suna had a Jinchuriku. As had, apparently, Konoha.

And Naruto was the unlucky sop who was said Jinchuriku.

The funny thing, at least for Sasuke, was his relieve. He had worried. Worried and brooded over the fact that Naruto just seemed to progress so much faster than him.

Always coming closer with massive steps. The dead last. The boy who couldn't even perform a simple bunshin.

But now? Now it made sense.

Naruto had simply been held back and never had the chance to properly develop his abilities.

Sasuke hadn't been blind, he knew that Naruto... didn't have the best reputation in the village.

He always assumed it had been because of his pranks. How wrong he had been.

But that meant Naruto would have trouble collecting support and teachers likely would prefer to spend as little time as possible with him. Adding his dislike of theoretical learning. And the academy turned into the last place Naruto should learn at.

But as soon as he graduated and had been removed from that environment, thereby giving himself a chance to learn at his pace and with his own methods, his natural talent did shine through and allowed him to catch up. Not because he actually had more potential than Sasuke.

Though who knew, he might have. Not that Sasuke would ever admit it out loud. And even privately he rather doubted it.

But simply because Sasuke had reached a certain level he had to train harder to reach the next.

Naruto on the other hand just blew through levels that Sasuke had passed a long time ago.

As soon as he caught up his learning speed would probably equalize with that of Sasuke and they could be true rivals... not counting the Kyuubi.

Wow... the Kyuubi...

"Err is something wrong Sasuke?" Naruto asked into the silence, that stretched between them.

"Hmm just thinking." Sasuke replied. He wanted to think this through, before he made any comment.

"Hey Naruto, can you explain to me how Shadow-clones work?" Sakura asked, distracting the boy.

Sasuke shuddered at the amount of trouble Sakura would be able to cause him with Shadow-clones.

His only hope would be her low chakra reserves...

And he returned to Naruto. His nearly inexhaustible supply of chakra also made sense suddenly.

Sasuke chuckled, no wonder he couldn't compete there. How did you compete with a demon fox?

He had no idea how it worked, but the fox had to give Naruto some of his chakra, otherwise Sasuke couldn't explain Naruto's insane stamina.

He watched Naruto attempt to explain the Shadow-clones to Sakura, with lots of hand waving, shouting and grinning.

The only question now was: What to do about it?

Did it change anything?

Did it matter?

He watched as Naruto grinned at Sakura, as she slowly went through the handseals.

He shook his head. It didn't. It didn't matter what Naruto was. And he was a great many things: idiot, dead last, prankster...

But a demon fox he wasn't. And for Sasuke that would be enough.

Now, how to breach the subject to his teammates... he glared at Sakura who, he realized, had tossed that ball to him.

But two could play that game. He waited for her to actually try to create a shadow-clone. Dangerous that, but he had faith in her. If the drain turned out to be too much she would stop.

His sharingan however he kept active. A technique was a technique even if it turned out to be useless for him. Actually... it would be a nice surprise for their teachers. If both Sakura and him suddenly attacked them with a shadow-clone...

Sakura's clone appeared, panting and tired. Sakura didn't look much better, but she did actually managed to create a clone.

Sasuke would therefore be able to use at least one as well as Naruto. Probably.

He flung the book back to her.

"Interesting read." He commented.

Sakura glared at him briefly. Heh, she was kinda cute when she glared... damn it! Where did these thoughts come from?

--o--

Libido glanced at Teamwork, as she dispatched another Itachi.

They had brought Family into a cave, far away from anything useful and were now raiding the country side for food and medicine.

Fairly unsuccessful, since nobody had anything of value really. The Itachi's used every resource for themselves. But still, they managed to kill a row of them, and they seemed... slower to replace their fallen comrades.

Libido grinned, together with Teamwork he actually started to make a difference.

And she was hot when she sliced through the Itachi's, that angry frown on her face... hmm...

--o--

No matter, he wouldn't let himself be distracted.

"Oh? Any ideas on... what a demon does?" She asked him back.

Naruto had developed a slight nervous twitch at this point.

Sasuke worked hard to not smirk at him.

He just looked so ridiculous, when he glanced fearfully from one of them to the other.

"Well, they didn't go into details, but if you use the demon it's supposed to boost strength, speed, healing and chakra capacity." Naruto flinched at every word on the list, his muscles pulled taunt, ready to flee.

Gah, as funny as messing with him was, he should end it.

Sakura seemed to feel the same, as she shook her head quickly.

"But that's supposedly just the basics, most bring other advantages and disadvantages." She added.

"Not much is know about those. The villages keep information on their demons as tightly locked as possible."

Naruto looked at them in confusion. "Huh? The villages?"

Sakura nodded. "Yeah, did you think you were the only one? Every mayor village and maybe some of the minor villages have a Jinchuriku. Or try to have one at least..."

"Oh that makes sense I sup... po...sss..." He looked at them, eyes wide, panic written all over his face.

A second later he sprung up, turned and attempted to run. Sasuke rolled his eyes.

Totally unnecessary that panic attack. And futile, seeing as Sakura had been faster and wrapped her wires around his legs.

All he managed to do was to fall on his face and wiggle futilely.

"Geez, what's with you Naruto. You can face off against guys like Zabusa and Orochimaru, but as soon as it comes to telling your teammates about an integral part of yourself you become the greatest coward in fire country." Sakura rolled her eyes.

Sasuke kept quite, he got were Naruto was coming from. No need to tell her though.

Naruto hadn't calmed down, he wound himself like a trapped animal, desperate to escape.

"Damn it Naruto, calm down!" Sakura shouted as she punched him into the next tree...

"Smooth." He deadpanned, earning himself a glare.

Ohh yeah, that's the stuff baby, glare at me...

Maybe he should check himself in with Ibiki, that just couldn't be healthy.

Over exposure to Anko maybe, always those revealing stuff she wore and the glares looked kinda similar. Yeah, that had to be it. He associated glares with sexy thanks to Anko.

Mystery solved, he could beat that. Later, they had more important stuff to worry about.

"It worked didn't it? He isn't panicking anymore." Sakura defended herself.

"You knocked him out." Sasuke pointed out, quite reasonably.

Both Sakura and Naruto looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"I barely felt that." Naruto muttered.

"I lied." Sasuke shrugged and since Naruto talked to them, instead of trying to escape, the lie had accomplished it's mission.

"So, why the panic?" He asked the boy, who grumbled about lying jerks. "Don't you trust us?"

See Naruto flinch, flinch Naruto, flinch. As if they were stupid enough to see the demon instead of Naruto.

Maybe if they hadn't gotten to know him. Maybe.

"Yeah, as if we were stupid enough to think you are a demon." Sakura echoed him. She seemed even more affronted than him. But then, she did consider herself smarter than him as well... which she was. He didn't pride himself in his smarts after all. He had more than enough, but Sakura beat him easily.

Naruto looked down, grinning weakly, and scratched the back of his head.

"I... I'm sorry guys..." Damn, here they went again with the crying... every opportunity he could Naruto turned into a crybaby.

"Aww..." Sakura cooed, a shiver ran over Sasuke's spine. That didn't sound good...

"Group hug!" She shouted, grabbed him and dragged him into an embrace with Naruto.

He wouldn't have minded a hug with Sakura alone... much. But with Naruto? Hell no!

Apparently Naruto felt similar, as he struggled against Sakura's vice like grip.

"Ahh bastard let go!"

"Tell that to Sakura, I'm trying to get away from you!"

"Ohh wriggle more, that feels good!"

They looked at each other and, with every scrap of strength they possessed broke her grasp and flew away from each other.

"Spoilsports!" She shouted after them, giggling. Damn pervert! She hung around Anko and Jirayia too much as well.

Sasuke sighed, at least she had stopped the mushy feeling crap. He hated the mushy feeling stuff... no matter how nice it felt.

--o--

Anko yawned, from her spot, hidden on top of a tree overlooking her students.

"So, they figured it out. Not as if we were very careful."

The males around her shrugged. Jirayia even grinned. "I think it's good they found out. He has gained two people his own age who know the secret. That can only be a good thing."

Kakashi nodded. "And amongst the population at large he already has more allies than he knows.

"Or they are willing to admit."

He didn't glance at her, Anko noticed. Good for him, she wouldn't admit it to the brat if her life depended on it. Wouldn't do to give him false ideas. Just because she didn't consider him a demonic fox, didn't mean she didn't consider him a menace.

She glared at him briefly. She hadn't forgotten his little prank in the dango shop 4 years ago.

He still hadn't paid for that one.

Ok so she had forgotten, but yesterday she had remembered. And soon, very soon he would pay for his crime.

Cackling evilly she continued her observation of the group.

"Ehem, anyway." Kakashi looked away from her.

"There's still the matter of Gaara." He looked worriedly. "Why would somebody send their Jinchuriku to the chunin exams?"

Anko looked at him flatly, as she pointed at Naruto.

Kakashi returned her flat look. "As if they can be compared." He growled. "You saw him, didn't you?" He asked her.

She had, yes. And if you compared Naruto with him, yes she could see Kakashi's point. Where Naruto hated to hurt anybody, unless they deserved it anyway, Gaara loved to hurt people. His entire body language screamed: "I want to kill people and lots of them!"

"Probably an effect of the seal... and a far worse childhood." Jirayia piped up. "If my contacts are right... then his father has attempted to kill him constantly." He stared at the tree for a few seconds. "And I heard that he used those who looked after Gaara on a few of those attempts."

Anko shuddered, she knew how a betrayal like that felt. And she didn't know how much worse it would be without any support afterward.

Silence descended over them.

"Why send him here though? Does he hope to get Gaara killed here? Make him loose control, piss off one of our better ninja and die?" Kakashi asked himself.

Jirayia nodded. "Could be, but... there might be worse possibilities." He glanced at Anko. "Especially with him hanging around. And showing an interest in Sasuke."

Anko nodded, her hand rubbing over her seal. The boy had been lucky. If Sakura hadn't killed their attackers before the seal activated... if they had entered a fight were he would have to go all out...

Who knew how much the seal would have screwed with him?

Luckily it hadn't and Kakashi could neutralize it quickly.

"Well, not much we can do right now. We have to inform the Hokage of course, but he already increased security since Orochimaru's attack. We can't do much more." Anko said.

"True." Kakashi looked at a little pocket watch. "Their thirty minutes are up by the way." He grinned at them.

And they grinned back. "So we can play some more?" She asked eagerly. Playing with them had turned out to be so much fun.

Who ever knew? Children just were so cheerfully blood-thirsty and imaginative.

"Hehe, yes Anko, we can play some more." Jirayia rubbed his hands together. "I would love to teach Naruto to summon toads... but I'm afraid I would have to teach the other two as well..." He murmured, more to himself than to them.

Kakashi looked down. "Considering who he's facing I would like to teach Sasuke the chidori..."

Anko shrugged. Men and their competitions. "And I would love to teach my cute and vicious little student to rip your guys apart while they charge up for the awesome techniques you teach them. But, honestly? I think if we teach them anything we need to teach it to them as a team."

Both chuckled, even as they nodded in agreement. "True, together they are much stronger than they are alone." Jirayia said, rubbing a spot on his back, where Sakura had managed to hit him with a kunai.

They had actually managed to hurt their teachers more than they thought. Kakashi after all hadn't gotten any antidote form Anko... well not until after he had told them he had.

Anko had, but she had only done so upon seeing Kakashi nearly taken out with it.

And Jirayia had simply been too distracted by several shadow-clones, henged into females, naked females, to defend against Sakura. Especially with Sasuke doing his best to obscure his vision of the beauties.

Anko once again thanked her parents for her generous assets. Otherwise she might have gotten jealous.

"So... we continue the team exercises?" She asked.

"Yes, each of us is going to teach them a bit to their individual strengths too. But we focus on them as a team." Kakashi confirmed her expectations.

"Good, then let's get started, they had more than enough time to rest."

--o--

Sakura groaned, as she crawled after Anko. Team training had finally, finally ended. Leaving all three of them to learn a bit by themselves.

She glanced at the red sky. Not much time though. She sighed. She would have loved to train some more with her wires. She still could barely control them. Even with all the use she put them to today.

But she couldn't exactly complain about Anko teaching her to make more poisons. Or better make her go over the old ones and the basic theory, again. It made sense, she had more than enough options available already and if she ever needed to make poisons somewhere that didn't have the diversity of plant and animal life as fire country, she would need to understand the basics.

Encyclopedic knowledge of every plant and animal on the plant would be helpful of course, but learning that in a month would likely be futile.

So the basics would have to be enough. Still, there was one thing Anko hadn't even mentioned yet.

"What about gas Mistress Anko?" She asked. Whenever she called Anko that she got better results after all.

Anko stopped, turning ever so slowly and regarded her in silence for a while.

Sakura didn't fidget. It wouldn't help, in fact it would make Anko regard her as too immature to deal with something that dangerous.

"Why do you think I haven't taught you anything even resembling poisonous gas yet?" Anko snapped.

Easy answer, if poison you coated on weapons could kill you, for the slightest mistake, what would poison lingering in the air around you do?

"Because it's to ordinary poison what a volcano eruption is to a house fire?" She asked.

"Exactly!" Anko nodded. "It's far too dangerous to ever use. Unless you can be absolutely sure that you aren't anywhere near the area you are going to use it in" Anko glared at her. "Don't even think about using gas anywhere near Konoha."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "What about sleeping gas. Seems harmless enough."

If anything Anko's glare got worse. "What did I tell you about any poison that's supposed to be nonlethal?"

"They aren't, they are merely more unlikely to kill you. They still might and most of them will have lasting effects on you, if you poison yourself." She recited.

"Exactly, so remember that. No use of..."

"But what if it's the only way to get a target? What if you could use it to lure Orochimaru into a trap?"

Dirty blow, and damn did it piss Anko off. But, she withstood the glacier like glare. It was worth it.

"So, you want to learn how to make and use poison gas eh?" Anko asked, not in her usual cheerfully sadistic voice.

Sakura shivered. Anko's voice could have frozen all of Konoha solid.

"You know what that means right?" She sneered at Sakura.

Sakura gulped, but nodded. This would suck. This would suck so much.

Anko wouldn't use a harm- and more importantly painless sleeping gas. This would be the most painful nonlethal gas she could make.

Sakura took a deep breath. "Bring it. I won't loose my friends because I couldn't take your teaching methods." She returned Anko's glare, though the effect might be spoiled by the slight shaking she couldn't entirely suppress.

"Fine." Anko nodded and disappeared. Probably to collect the poison. Sakura didn't for a single second think Anko didn't have something ready.

--o--

Temari glared at her brother. As he calmly took apart his puppet.

"Don't you get what that means?" She nearly, very nearly shouted at him.

He shrugged, as he examined a joint. "Don't worry so much. She was probably bluffing."

Damn the idiot. Even if Haruno had been bluffing it was dangerous. And Temari had her doubts. After all, it made too much sense. Far too much sense, for her not to be bluffing.

"Geez Temari, we would have heard about it if they had a Jinchuriku. We heard nothing of the sort. It doesn't exist." Kankuro waved her concerns off and picked up another part.

"Can we risk that?" She hissed back. "Even if it had only been a bluff. She knows we have a Jinchuriku here now. What do you want to bet she told somebody about it?"

"Why would she do that? Do you think a little girl like her..."

That did it, she jumped out of her bed and punched him dead in the face... or tried to at least. Instead she gasped in pain, curled up around her stomach and would have fallen out of bed, if he hadn't caught her.

"Careful sis. You haven't healed that wound yet." He snickered.

"And yet the 'little girl' as you call her, is up and about, doing whatever she wants to." She countered.

His smirk died down and he started thinking. Finally.

"What are we supposed to do? We can't just stop it. It's come too far now." He shrugged. "We just have to be careful."

Temari sighed. And he called this careful? If it weren't for the weak genjutsu she used, had been allowed to use, that prevented anybody from eavesdropping she would have called him insane.

Now she would just call him exceptionally careless.

"You need to inform Baki Kankuro." She pleaded with him.

But he just shook his head. "There's no point. By the time I reach him he would probably be on his way back already. And by then... " He shrugged. "Better to wait and just tell him then. Beside, you are just paranoid anyway."

She glanced out of the window. "Hopefully you are right. Because if you aren't..."

She didn't need to finish that sentence, he knew as well as she did that Suna had gambled a lot on this attack. A whole lot more than she liked in fact.

--o--

Well, another chapter finished. Again slightly larger than the last.

I've also gone over chapter one and two and hopefully improved them a bit.

Hope you guys enjoy the chapter. If there is anything you don't like please let me know.


	9. Social Interaction

Expectations of Development

--o--

Social Interaction

--o--

Panting Sasuke watched Kakashi carefully.

Today training had started with them working alone, usually the team training started the day.

But then, in two days the third part of the chunin exam started, so they might want to skip team training to let them rest up for the next day, and just give them the final polish.

"Good job Sasuke." Kakashi grinned at him. As always, he managed to do it even while wearing his mask.

"Heh, you think I wouldn't get it?" He panted tiredly. He had only stared at Kakashi all morning, he hadn't moved at all. But using the sharingan for hours on time, trying to ensnare the man in genjutsu, did have quite an effect on your chakra levels.

"Oh I had no doubts you would managed to perfect your genjutsu." Kakashi waved him off.

Perfect them? Kakashi still managed to slip out of them with ease. But then, supposedly he was a Jonin, no matter how he acted. So Sasuke should expect him to beat the genjutsu of a genin. And besides, Sasuke had managed to catch him in the first place. A seconds distraction could be invaluable in a fight, as they had demonstrated again and again in their training.

Of course, they had mostly trained fighting as a team, not as individuals. That would make the upcoming tournament much harder.

Upcoming missions on the other hand, with a real risk of dieing? Much easier. And hey,while chunin pay would be nice, surviving those missions would be much better. Made killing Itachi that much more feasible too.

"By the way, Sakura requested that training today be finished early. She had something planned, but I have no idea what that is." Kakashi said, already reading his book.

"Uhh... did she give you a hint?" Sasuke asked worriedly, no good would come of this, he could feel it.

"Hmm?" Kakashi asked, giggling quietly.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the man, took a deep breath and exhaled.

Kakashi nodded approvingly. "You're getting better. And no, she didn't give me a hint. But... I think it has something to do with the other teams from your class. They also got the day off." He added.

Sasuke groaned. The other teams, and they got the day off as well. So something social... and she would drag him with her, come hell or high water. With threats of kunai to sensitive places if necessary. He liked those sensitive places, he needed them to live and kill Itachi or to rebuild his clan.

He couldn't afford to have them cut or cut off.

--o--

Naruto grinned tiredly, as he could feel the evil chakra settle around him. He had finally managed to drag out some of the foxes chakra. Not much, but he bet if he really needed it, the fox would hand it over readily enough.

And against Gaara that just might be necessary.

Another demon container... somebody else like him.

But, did Gaara have any friends? Any teammates like Naruto? Who could just accept him, even with the demon?

And... wow, that had been...

He still felt like dancing whenever he thought back to it. Sakura and Sasuke had acted as if nothing had changed. Ok, they did it in an insulting manner. But hey, they did that anyway. And he had to admit, there were sharper tools in the shed than him.

Which didn't mean much, since Sakura and Sasuke were pretty damn smart. So, being a bit more stupid than them didn't mean you were stupid. Right?

Ok, he admitted he kinda was stupid. But not nearly enough to matter.

"Good going Naruto, but... could you maybe stop smiling while using that chakra?" Jirayia chuckled nervously.

"Huh? What do you mean pervert?" Naruto asked, why should he stop smiling?

"Super Pervert please." Jirayia corrected him. "And well... you kinda look like the fox in human form while you smile like that."

Naruto wished he had a mirror to see himself, this might just be the beginnings of an awesome prank... might also be a good tool for intimidation. After all, if the enemy was busy cowering in the corner they wouldn't be able to fight back.

"But I can't help it! It's just... you know?" He gestured towards the direction his teammates trained in.

"Brat they accepted you two weeks ago! You should have gotten over it by now." Jirayia sighed.

Naruto stared at him with quivering lips and tearful eyes.

Instead of the expected reaction however Jirayia grimaced. "Ohh, that's even worse than the smile. There's something fundamentally wrong with you giving me the puppy eyes while shrouded by fox's chakra." He shuddered.

Naruto blinked, pushed the chakra away and tried again.

Jirayia relaxed. "Much better, but that won't... won't... oh whatever. Smile like a demented fox for all I care!" He shouted and turned away in disgust. Avoiding Naruto's demented foxy grin.

Naruto stuck out a tongue, before he slumped to the ground in exhaustion.

"By the way brat. Sakura wanted to talk to you. Something about meeting the other teams." Jirayia laid his head to the side. "Funny, she didn't mention that to Kakashi... should have told him not to inform Sasuke of that fact, if she didn't want him to know."

"Huh? Meeting the other teams? Why?" Naruto asked. Not that he minded much. He would like to meet Kiba, Shikamaru and Choji again. But still, before the tournament? They would have to fight each other... well Shikamaru and Naruto would have to fight.

Naruto blinked, what was he worried about? Shikamaru wouldn't care much about loosing anyway.

"Heh, sounds like fun!" He shouted, why worry about things like that?

A shiver ran down his spine... why did that happen?

--o--

"Are you sure that this is a good idea?" Ino asked Sakura, as they waited for Anko, in front of the liquor store.

"A good idea? Hell no!" Sakura shook her head. "A funny idea? Maybe even a hilarious idea? Hell yes!"

"I dunno, this might backfire horribly." Ino looked into the story, warily keeping an eye on Anko.

"Bah, don't worry so much. It's just a little bit of alcohol. Not as if we have enough money to buy... to buy... half the store?" Sakura stared, as Anko walked out laden over and over with alcohol.

"How... how did you get so much? We didn't give you that much money." She stuttered.

Anko grinned from behind a bottle. "Most of that is for us teachers! We need to have a little party of our own."

"Ah, trying to get a look behind Kakashi's mask I take it." Sakura nodded knowingly.

"Heh, yeah. Let's see him deflect my attempts when he's too drunk to defend himself." Anko cackled. She looked down at them. "But, since I'm generous and a party without alcohol is a crime, I've donated a bit too your party fund." She handed a third of her goods over to them.

"Now make sure to share properly and don't do anything I wouldn't do." She winked and sauntered off.

"Be careful, so you and Kurenai don't end up doing somebody you'll regret!" Sakura shouted after her.

"Who do you think I am brat! I never regret anything I do!" Anko shouted back.

Ino looked after her, then at Sakura. "I still say this is a bad idea. Remember the last time?"

Sakura nodded. "One of the better nights of sleep I got lately. Nightmares suck Ino, they really, really suck. And I have them nearly every night."

She looked away. "At least Temari doesn't appear in them anymore." She muttered to herself.

"Huh, what was that?" Ino asked, shifting the bottles she carried a bit.

"Nothing." Sakura smiled at her, but Ino's expression told her that she didn't buy it. "Nothing you can change at least. Just nightmares, as I said."

And while Temari didn't appear anymore, Gaara showed up pretty prominently, as a shapeless demon, attempting to avenge his sister... or his privilege of killing her first...

"They haven't gotten better yet?" Ino asked worriedly.

Sakura shrugged. "Not really. I doubt they will disappear after just a few weeks. Honestly I'm not sure I would want them to disappear so soon."

Ino shuddered but nodded. "Yeah, I get what you mean."

She paused and looked at a list in her hand. "So, we have the alcohol, the foods waiting at home and we have the training ground to ourselves." She looked at the alcohol. "And again, this is a bad idea."

Sakura rolled her eyes. How long would Ino go on about that.

"Two words: Drunken Hinata." She grinned wickedly at her friend, who looked at the alcohol with new appreciation.

"Also," Sakura continued. "drunken Sasuke." Both girls grinned a grin that would have made the Kyuubi proud.

--o--

Sasuke shivered. Somebody plotted against him, he could feel it! And he had a very good idea about who would be doing the plotting.

If Sakura wouldn't find him and drag him to her little outing anyway, he would hide now and only come out for the tournament.

--o--

"So, they all know where to meet?" Ino asked Sakura.

"Yeah, I have to collect Sasuke and Naruto, since I didn't tell them anything yet. Sasuke would have run away, and Naruto wouldn't have shut up about it."

Ino nodded in understanding. "I haven't told Shika until today either. Give him time to think and he would have managed to weasel out of this."

"Man, Hinata has it good. The two most reasonable boys are on her team... hell, you have it good. Shikamaru won't put up much of a fight, and Choji would just go along with whatever you wanted him to do." Sakura sighed. "I have to drag Sasuke around by his ears to get him to do anything. At least outside of combat."

Ino grinned at her. "And Naruto does everything you ask him to without question eh? You poor, poor girl you."

Sakura rolled her eyes. So what if she had a cute guy to do her bidding? Every girl should have a Naruto... hmm with his shadow clones... she giggled perversely. Ohh, so much fun to be had there.

And maybe they could rent his shadowclones? Most girls shunned him because he he wore that orange monstrosity. If she coached him a bit, made him run around shirtless and started a Naruto appreciation campaign... ohh they would be able to supplement their mission pay considerably.

She would have to check how far away shadowclones could last first of course.

Kinda sad, that she could barely make one. A pretty weak one at that. But still, no demon to power her, no shadowclones for her.

Sasuke did manage to make a decent one. But it weakened him considerably as well.

Only Naruto could make them like they were going out of style. However, making one did train Sakura's endurance considerably. At least she could stand now if she made one. And it didn't immediately dispel after she created it. In another month she would probably be able to actually use one!

"Bah, it's not the same. Anyway, not as if you can't push Shikamaru around as you please. Fighting you is way too much of a bother isn't it?" Sakura grinned at her.

Ino shrugged. "Still a lot of work. And the threats I have to use. If he bothered to think about it he would realize I would never actually follow through."

"Bah, you know you would. Just to piss him off." Sakura shook her head.

"Maybe." Ino conceded and dropped the bottles she carried on a table, since they had arrived.

"Well, let's go get the jucie and the food. We still have to prepare a lot before this is ready."

"Yeah, why didn't we ask Hinata for help?" Ino looked at Sakura somewhat peeved.

"Because she would have vetoed the alcohol." Sakura explained simply.

"Damn, should have gotten Hinata to come with us." Ino muttered dejectedly.

"Too late now. Come on." Sakura marched off. The alcohol should be safe here. Nobody besides team seven came to these training fields, and Anko had already hidden somewhere in the area, ready to supervise them.

Sakura glanced at Ino, catching her eyes and glanced at the trees. Ino nodded almost imperceptible.

So, they had supervision. That was good she supposed. Nothing too bad could happen then... like Gaara showing up and killing them all.

--o--

Hinata smiled as she walked into the clearing. She would be able to talk watch Naruto again tonight. Maybe even talk to him.

Though she would probably faint again. But she would try her best! And maybe just maybe...

"Hey Hinata!" Sakura shouted from the clearing, where she and Ino had set some wooden tables, chairs and a small fireplace.

"You were busy." Hinata stared at it all.

"Eh, not really. Carrying it turned out to be most of the work. We set it up in no time at all." Sakura said confidently.

Ino groaned. "Speak for yourself forehead girl. Ugh, my back's killing me."

"You should have asked me to help." Hinata looked at it all. Why hadn't they asked her for help?

"Or the boys." Ino said, nodding. "That's what they are good for. Carrying heavy loads."

"And bickering and breaking stuff on the way. No thanks. I'm just renting this stuff. I don't want it destroyed. I would have to pay for it." Sakura countered.

Hinata giggled at the idea of Naruto and Kiba arguing over how to carry the tables, shirtless because of the heat. Sweat running down their torsos, glistening in the sun...

"Hinata? Is everything alright?" Ino asked her voice pregnant with worry. "You look as if you're ready to faint."

"Eeeep!" Hinata came back to earth. "Err... I just... just..." Her index fingers found each other.

And Naruto hadn't even arrived yet!

Sakura sighed and handed her a glass. "Here drink that and tell me how it tastes."

Hinata eagerly grabbed the glass, glad for a distraction.

The drink tasted kinda weird. It stung a bit, but the fruit juice hid the worst of it.

"It's... not bad. What is it?" She asked Sakura.

"No idea. I just put a few different juices and stuff together." Sakura shrugged.

Ino glared at her. "Sakura!" She shouted.

"What? I'm just trying to get her to relax some. It's not bad. And we are going to drink it too!"

Hinata looked worriedly from one to the other and at her drink. "Uhh... what? What's in the drink?"

Sakura sighed. "Just fruit juice and a bit of sake. Nothing bad really."

Hinata could feel her eyes widen as held the drink out as far away from her as possible.

"Alcohol? But we are much too young..." She could see Ino nodding in the background.

Sakura snorted however. "But we are old enough to kill. So, why shouldn't we be allowed to drink? Civilian kids do it too! And they aren't going on important missions."

Ino hummed thoughtfully. "I think there's a direct correlation there Sakura. Important missions and getting drunk don't seem to mix very well."

Hinata nodded, alcohol would be bad on missions. And she didn't think civilian kids started drinking at twelve!

Sakura looked flatly at them. "Since when is talking to Naruto a deadly mission... and I think on this one the alcohol might actually be an acceptable mission tool."

Hinata stared at the glass in her hand for a second and downed it in one go. What Sakura said made sense and civilian kids didn't go and dangerous missions either. So there.

"Hinata!" Ino shouted. "Don't listen to her, she's crazy! And you don't want to use alcohol whenever you talk to Naruto do you?"

"Oh.." Hinata muttered, no she wouldn't want to do that! In fact that would be very, very bad!

Ino glared at Sakura, who lowered her head. "Sorry, yeah, that would be bad... but just for today..."

Hinata giggled, seeing the two of them bicker, well it just seemed so much fun. She wished she had somebody to bicker with like that.

But Hanabi always seemed so serious, just like father. And Kiba and Shino didn't really talk back to her. Kinda down to her yes. But never back to her.

She didn't think they actually realized it and it was mostly her own fault anyway, for never giving them any hint that she didn't like it. Not like Ino and Sakura, Hinata sighed. Those two would let their teammates know when they did something they didn't like.

She glanced at the bottles on the table... she overheard some people talk about alcohol giving courage. Well, maybe just this once.

"So you see Hinata alcohol is bad for you and you shouldn't listen to Sakura." Ino finished a tirade that Hinata had apparently missed in it's entirety.

"Ahh... uhh..." Hinata twirled her fingers.

What to do, what to do? Ino would be offended if she realized Hinata hadn't listened at all....

"Bah, don't listen to her. I wonder when she became miss responsible. Besides, drunken Sasuke." Sakura smirked at Ino, who had developed a silly grin just like Hinata.

But Ino sobered up quickly. "As if he would actually drink. It's a small miracle you managed to drag him here already."

Sakura narrowed her eyes. "Wanna bet piggy?"

"You're on forehead." Ino fired back.

"Ahh..." Hinata tried to interject.

"Looser has to follow the winners orders for a week." Sakura snapped, holding out her hand.

Ino nodded quickly. "Deal." She quickly closed her hand around Sakura's.

Sparks seemed to fly between them, then they let go of each other. Both smiling evilly.

"Uhh..." Hinata really had no idea what to say, she actually feared drawing attention from the other girls. So instead she took the bottle and mixed some more fruit juice and sake.

She took a deep gulp, only to nearly spit it out, it burned!

"Hinata are you alright?" Sakura suddenly appeared beside her, holding her with obvious concern.

"Ye.. yes. It's just... this is a bit strong..." She pointed at her glass.

Ino whistled. "Well, you mixed the strongest alcohol we got with very little juice Hinata. Of course it's strong."

Hinata blushed, she couldn't help herself. "O...oh..."

Sakura looked smugly at Ino, who shook her head. "Maybe Sakura has a point. Still," She took Hinata's glass away. "You shouldn't be drunk when the boys arrive, would make a bad impression right?"

Hinata nodded weakly.

"Also, we have to prepare some more. Choji offered to bring some food, and Shikamaru's helping him." Ino and Sakura looked at each other. "We would have asked Sasuke to bring some food as well, but... " Ino leaned in, to whisper in Hinata's ear. "He probably would have only brought rice and fish."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Freaking ascetic, that's what he is."

Ino rolled her eyes but nodded. "He's not that bad. And Naruto would have just brought ramen. Also a rather limited choice."

"Tasty though." Sakura interjected cheerfully.

"Whatever, so we just have to wait for..." Ino stopped to stare at the small mountain of foodstuff moving their way. Also at the smaller mountain, moving a bit behind.

"Where do you want this Ino?" Choji's voice could be heard from behind the wall of food.

"Uhh..." Ino and Sakura stared at each other, then shook their heads. "Just put it on that table over there. And geez, don't you think that's overkill?"

"Have you ever seen Naruto and Kiba eat?" Shikamaru said from behind his mountain.

Ino blinked and looked at Hinata.

Hinata could feel the blush rising again. "He... he's a growing boy." She stammered in Kiba's defense.

"Hehe, that's true!" Kiba said from behind her. "And don't you forget Akamaru, he needs food as well."

His dog barked in confirmation.

"This does appear to be a bit much food..." Shino said, staring at the large amounts of meat.

Hinata grinned at him shyly. "I'm sure we will eat most of it."

Shino looked at her and nodded. "Maybe."

Sakura materialized between them and handed each of them a glass. "Here, have a drink."

Kiba sniffed the glass cautiously and his eyes widened. "Alcohol? Where did you get that?"

"Something wrong with it?" Sakura challenged him.

Kiba grinned at her, showing a lot of teeth. "Nah, just wondering." And with that he drained his glass, not even coughing.

Sakura shrugged. "Anko helped me get it."

Kiba suddenly stopped and stared at her. "Anko? As in the scary psycho from the prelims?" He looked around fearfully.

Hinata suppressed a giggle. He almost was as good as Naruto at cheering her up.

Sakura nodded. "Just her."

--o--

Kurenai held Anko back, as she attempted to jump off the tree and teach Kiba and Sakura a lesson in who they called scary psycho.

"Lemme go Kurenai. I'll teach them to insult me!" She whispered loud enough for the other teachers to hear her.

Kakashi chuckled, shaking his head. He leaned back against the trunk of the tree and lazily watched the surrounding forest.

"Anko." Kurenai hissed. "You already bought them alcohol. Hell, you brought some here! We're supposed to keep an eye on them while they relax. We aren't supposed to have a party of our own!"

Now Asuma chuckled, while Jirayia scribbled away in his book.

Anko looked down, at the position of Kurenai's hands. "You might want to remove these, the boys might just get the wrong idea." She grinned at the suddenly red Kurenai. "Man, you look just like your student."

Ohh, and now she glared at her angrily.

"Stop it Anko. We have a job to do. If Sand have brought a demon carrier to the exams..."

Anko overrode her worries. "They have done the same as we have then."

"Ours isn't a raving lunatic." Kurenai countered.

"Well... whatever. Not as if they would try anything now." Anko waved off and pointed at each of them in turn.

"We have Jirayia with us for gods sake."

Kurenai pointed at him scribbling away in his notebook.

"You think he'll be of use?" She snorted.

Anko wagged her fingers at her friend. "You of all people should know that appearances can be deceiving.

And again Kurenai did her little Hinata impression. Then she grabbed the bottle from Anko and took a deep drag.

"Fine, but if anything goes wrong, it's on your cap."

From the men came only chuckling. Useless sacks of flesh. Well, Anko's alcohol funds came out of their pockets, so not entirely useless.

And she had no idea why Kurenai didn't think this was a party. It was their monthly get together. Just because they also watched the kids didn't mean they couldn't have some fun.

--o--

Sakura grinned at Ino and Hinata, as they huddled a bit away from the boys. The get together turned out to be a full success, as far as she was concerned.

Now the only thing remaining would be to have some fun at her teammates expenses.

"Hinata, what you need is a test run. Me and Ino will help." She said, the alcohol slurring her speech ever so slightly. She had however been careful not to drink too much. She learned her lesson last time.

For tonight she had had enough.

"We will?" Ino asked.

"Test run?" Hinata squeaked.

"Yeah test run. Whenever you try to talk to Naruto you almost faint right?" Sakura asked Hinata.

"Faint or he just talks right over her." Ino confirmed.

"So you have to learn on an easier target." Sakura nodded.

"Easier target?" Hinata looked at the boys with narrowed eyes. Sakura could see the effect the alcohol had on her. The slight grin, the slouch, so different form her usual slouch, in that this one made her look confident. The discarded jacket... damn but life was unfair.

She allowed herself another sip from her glass. Why? Why did Hinata have... these...

Bah, no point thinking about it. Ino had bigger breasts as well. "At least I have the better ass." She muttered to herself.

Ino grinned at Sakura. "You say something forehead?"

"No, drop it." Sakura glared back. Damn Ino's good ears.

"Hmm who would be a better target?" Hinata tapped her finger to her lips.

All girls looked at Sasuke almost at once.

"Bingo." Sakura grinned. "You aren't interested in him. But if you can get him to want you, Naruto will almost certainly be interested. They are rivals and all that after all."

The girls looked at Naruto and smiled encouragingly at him.

"And once you have his attention you can just talk to him. No need to confess or anything." Ino added.

"Confess? Confess what?" Hinata seemed to fall back into her usual flustered state.

Sakura looked at Ino and rolled her eyes. "Honestly only Naruto is dense enough not to see you have a thing for him."

"Uhh... I admire... him... it's not as if I.."

"Want to throw him to the ground and kiss him all over?" Ino interjected.

"Chain him to the bed and have your wicked way with him?" Sakura asked, earning herself two... well, not horrified looks, more like intrigued and scandalized ones? Whatever. "You know you want to."

Hinata emptied her glass in one go again. Sakura felt kinda bad about making her do that. But, she needed that push out of her shell.

--o--

"Ohhh your girl is corrupting my poor little Hinata!" Kurenai growled as she choked Anko. Without much success, going by the noises that escaped Anko's mouth.

"Stop laughing this is serious!" Kurenai didn't whine. But it came close.

Anko pointed at her face, that had begun to turn blue and Kurenai reluctantly let go.

"Hehehe..." Anko giggled weakly. "Why are you watching the girls? The reaction of the boys is so much funnier!" She pointed at Naruto and Sasuke.

Kurenai watched them as well. Her gaze shifted to the girls. Then back to the boys.

She glanced at the men with them.

Who had stopped chuckling and started to chug the sake.

"To our fallen comrades!" Asuma said.

"They are acting as if the kids will die." Kurenai muttered.

Anko raised an eyebrow. "Going by the amount of alcohol they are drinking they might actually."

Huh, she had a point.

"Shouldn't we, you know? Do something?" Kurenai asked the people around her.

She only got blank looks in reply.

She managed to hold her expression blank a few more seconds, then burst out laughing.

"Bwahaha, yeah right. Damn Anko, this is the best entertainment since Gai beat Kakashi and made him give up Icha Icha for a week!"

She could hear Kakashi shudder in the background.

Or maybe he fell of the tree, she didn't turn around, instead she watched the drama below.

Sometimes you just had to throw composure to the wind, forget that you were supposed to be all serious and just enjoy a nice evening of making fun of your students with your colleagues.

"Go Hinata!"

--o--

Sasuke tried to watch the girls, without them noticing it.

He succeeded, maybe. Keeping the sharingan active while drunk had turned out to be harder than expected.

He glared at Shikamaru and the other guys. The second they had seen the smiles on the girls faces they had left him alone. Him and Naruto.

Of course, the blond idiot hadn't noticed anything and started chatting with him.

"So, who do you think is best? Kakashi, Asuma, Anko, Kurenai or Jirayia?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke looked over to the girls. They looked at him! Why did he feel like a mouse that looked at three cats?

"Jirayia obviously, he's a freaking Sanin!" He hissed, grabbed another glass of alcohol, the strong one, and started to empty it. Maybe he would faint before they initiated whatever plan they had for him.

They smiled at Naruto, who smiled back like the idiot he was.

Didn't he see the horrible, horrible smiles? The smiles that said nothing more than, we want to eat you?

Even his fangirls hadn't smiled that way... but then they hadn't been drunk.

"Naruto don't you see that!" He pointed at the girls.

"Oh, they are just staring, you know because of the Kyuubi and all that." Naruto waved him off.

"Do you honestly think Sakura would tell them..." Sasuke started, only to be interrupted by Naruto, as he grabbed him by the collar.

"Just. Stares. Because of. Kyuubi!" He growled.

Sasuke nodded blandly. If he wanted to live in ignorance, Sasuke wouldn't stop him. But Sasuke needed an escape plan! He wouldn't... wouldn't... oh god too late! Here they came. And why all three? Hinata wanted Naruto, only Naruto hadn't realized that yet. Had Ino and Sakura converted her?

But why? Why would they...

"Sasuke." Hinata grinned at him and she swayed slightly. "Do you like me?"

Sasuke gulped, then remembered the glass in his hand and emptied it, buying himself time to think.

Naruto he noticed breathed a sigh of relive.

"Well, do you Sasuke?" Ino asked, positioning herself at Hinata's left.

"Yeah, she's such a nice girl." Said Sakura from her right.

They slowly circled him. And did they usually wear clothes with so much... so much... wow, Hinata and Ino had really big breasts for their age... why had he never noticed that before.

He glanced at Sakura. Well, not nearly as much but...

Oh god, there were these thoughts were again. Ok, he had to think Itachi, think Itachi. He had to avenge his clan.

Right, avenge his clan, because the breasts, no focus on Itachi.

"You know, since we already kissed you, Hinata feels left out." Ino continued talking.

Yeah, they kissed him didn't they? Hmm and he would have to rebuild his clan... that had been killed by... uhh who had killed his clan again?

He stared at the breast in front of him, then the empty glass in his hand. Sakura gave him a new one. He immediately gulped it down.

"Kiss... her?" He muttered, wrenching his gaze from her... breast to her face and her lips.

No, he had to avenge... his brother. What's his name again? He couldn't remember...

Something soft pressed against his left arm. He looked at Sakura.

"Come on Sasuke." She pleaded.

Something softer pressed against his other arm. "Yeah Sasuke come on." Ino whispered in his ear.

"You don't like me do you?" Hinata asked, close to tears.

Sasuke barely managed to suppress the whimper that threatened to come out.

Why did this happen to him? Hadn't he been a good boy? All he wanted...

Hinata's soft assets touching his chest halted all thoughts.

Oh fuck it. Not as if the guy, whatever his name, that did whatever, would show up tonight. There were three hot girls, pressing themselves against him! And he acted like a freaking coward! No more!

--o--

Libido stared at the battlefield.

He couldn't do anything else, he simply stared.

Corpses littered the ground. Hundreds of them, maybe even thousands.

All of them Itachis, all of them killed by him!

He stared at his hands, how? How had he done it? He had just wandered around the wasteland, searching for some food for Family and all of a sudden he had been surrounded by Itachis. Hundreds of them. Out of freaking nowhere.

But, instead of fearing them, he had felt confident. The first Itachi had stepped forward, and Libido had grinned. And stood his ground, simply lifting his hand and invited his enemy to try and fight him.

Somehow he had know. That today, on this battlefield, the Itachis wouldn't stand a chance.

Then it had started to rain, and the rain seemed to hurt the Itachis, while it empowered Libido.

He had started to laugh then and unsheathed Threesome.

A second later he stood before the Itachi, Threesome buried in his stomach. A flick of his wrist ripped the sword out and he charged the group in front of him. They seemed so slow, almost standing still.

He easily danced around their punches, he kicked and slashed through them, carving a path of blood and pain into them. Until he stood on the other side of the ring that had encircled him.

But instead of running he had turned around. He grinned, as he noticed more and more Itachis arriving.

"Well, well, well. Seems like somebody wants to start the party." He had heard himself say. He still grinned at the line. So cool.

And then they attacked. All of them at once. Laughing Libido had thrown himself into the battle.

He avoided a slash here, a stab there. Dance in and out of their punches with a fluid grace he had never before know. He felt like water, like a wave, a torrent. Sweeping away the serious faces attempting to kill him.

They couldn't even touch him! And so he had danced through them. He had lost all concept of time until he realized that no Itachi remained and he had stopped.

He looked down, at himself.

Not a single scratch, not even his clothes were nicked.

He glanced at the sky. The rain hadn't stopped, but the sun... well twin suns... six suns? Meh whatever, were shining.

And a beautiful rainbow could be seen.

What a day!

--o--

Naruto raised his glass to Sasuke, the first causality of war...

Damn it he felt jealous!

Why couldn't girls ever act like that around him?

Yeah right. He might be a tad dense, but he wasn't that stupid.

If Sasuke could distract the she-wolves long enough for Naruto to make an escape? Sucked to be him.

He snuck away, trying to reach the other boys, who were apparently discussing Sasuke's luck, or lack thereof.

"Man, I don't know whether to feel sorry for him or be jealous of him." Kiba said, staring at the girls having their way with Sasuke. Who at some point had stopped moving and simply stared at them with a silly grin.

"Feel sorry for him, definitely." Shikamaru muttered. "Rather him than me though."

Shino nodded. "Acting like that on a mission or during training would cut into the teams effectiveness rather severely."

All boys locked at him with raised eyebrows.

"Oh, lock Naruto has managed to escape." Shino pointed at Naruto quickly.

"Yeah, I want no part of that." He pointed at the terrible threesome and Sasuke.

Again with the raised eyebrows. "Ok maybe a little bit, but it's not worth the price."

Kiba nodded and Shikamaru shuddered.

"I don't get you guys. I think it would be nice having their attention like that." Choji murmured confused.

Naruto stared flatly at him. "But you only see the girls, not the wolves. To them you aren't a boy. You are meat, nothing more." He shuddered.

Kiba grinned wickedly. "But you have to admit, getting eating looks like a lot of fun."

The boys looked at Sasuke, who suddenly shook of Sakura and Ino, grabbed Hinata and kissed her deeply.

Shino narrowed his eyes and Kiba growled slightly. Then the two blinked and looked at Naruto.

Sasuke meanwhile had moved on to Ino, kissed her throughoutly as well, before he pulled in Sakura, kissed her... and passed out.

"Ok, what happened there?" Naruto asked in confusion.

"Brain overload I would guess... well that or too much alcohol." Shikamaru answered him.

Naruto nodded, the bastard probably had no idea how to deal with so much attention, and his stupid mind had taken the only route out it knew: unconsciousness.

Naruto glanced back at the girls, who were slowly moving towards... him.

He turned to the rest of the boys, only to find them gone.

"Traitors." He cursed, how could they leave him to the mercies of the girls? What should he do now? He didn't want to end up like Sasuke.

Ok, he kinda did. But he wanted to have some control over it!

"Na- ru- to- kun!" Hinata drawled, as she slowly swayed towards him. "Sasuke was such a disappointment. Sakura said you would make up for it?"

He gulped, since when did Hinata act like that? He only remembered her as that weirdo who always fainted around him.

Why couldn't she faint now? Her acting like this made him nervous. Hell Sakura acting like this made him nervous. Any girl acting like this would make him nervous. Girls didn't act like that around him!

"Hehehe Hinata... uhh, how... how's it going?" He stammered, slowly backing away.

Sakura grinned and he thought he saw some metal glinting on her hands.

A quick check confirmed it, she had send her wires out again, trapping him in a cage of metal.

"Ohh, it's going perfectly alright." Hinata grinned, her face completely red. Lavender eyes wide and Naruto could hear her accelerated breathing.

Ino leaned in and whispered something in her ear and her eyes returned to their normal size. Her breathing slowed some as well.

"Naruto, do you like me?" Hinata asked looking at the ground.

Naruto blinked, of course he liked her. Why would she even ask that. "Of course I do!" He shouted.

Sakura and Ino smirked at each other. "But do you really like her?" Ino asked, so innocently it just had to be fake.

"Yeah, do you really, really like her?" Sakura giggled.

Naruto took another step back, and frantically looked for an escape route. Why did girls act like that? It just wasn't fair.

"Uhh, yes?" He asked desperately. What did they want from him?

He thought back to his date with Sakura. He looked at the flushed Hinata.

Nope still no idea what they wanted.

Hinata had reached him by now and pressed herself against him. Which felt nice...

"Na, Naru, Naruto kun..." She stuttered, looking at him with the same wide eyes as before. Her breathing came irregularly as well.

"Hinata? Are you... ouch!" Ino had kicked him into the shin. "What did you do..."

Ino glared at him. "Kiss her already you idiot!" She hissed. He turned towards Sakura, who glared at him too. "What are you waiting for? Quick, before she faints again."

He looked at Hinata, who looked away. "Yo, you, you do, don't ha, hav, have to. Ifyoudon'twanto." She stuttered.

"Gnyaaa." Sakura screeched.

"Uhh, you want me to kiss you?" Naruto stared dumbly at Hinata. Why would she act like that if she wanted him to kiss her?

"So, Sasuke can do it but you can't, typical." Sakura sighed. "Come on Hinata, let's go back to Sasuke. At least he's a real man."

What? No way. Sasuke wouldn't beat him! How did he do it again?

Hinata opened her mouth to reply to Sakura, but Naruto gently grabbed her chin and turned her head to look at his. Sasuke had been rougher, but Naruto wouldn't do it like the bastard. He had his own style and if the girls didn't like it? Well their loss.

He grinned at Hinata who had taken one look at his face and stopped breathing. Damn, what if Sakura and Ino put her up to this? She obviously didn't want...

"Sasuke would have kissed her by now." Ino muttered.

His left eye twitched, no way was the bastard a better kisser than him!

He leaned in and his lips met Hinata's. There, a kiss, right? He pulled back, but Hinata's hands flew around his head and pulled him in again.

"You go girl!" Ino and Sakura shouted from the sides, as Hinata's tongue tried to invade his mouth.

Wow. He didn't resist at all. Why should he? In fact, why not kiss back?

Dimly he noticed that Sakura and Ino had disappeared, leaving him and Hinata alone, but for some reason he didn't mind at all.

--o--

"Aww, aren't they cute together." Anko chuckled drunkenly.

"Don't they need air at some point?" Kurenai stared at her student in awe.

"Young love." Asuma sighed, earning himself several weird looks. It always came as a surprise, when the gruff man revealed his softer side.

Anko always laughed, Kurenai found it endearing.

"Love? I wouldn't call that love. Attraction? Yes. Love? No. They are just now getting their hormones. What would they know of love?" Anko shook her head.

"Always the pessimist Anko." Kurenai sighed sadly.

"Realist. And love isn't some sacred thing, that once you find it stays with you forever. It's something you have to work for." She glanced at the couple. "Personally it's too much work. I'll stay with lust, thank you very much."

Kurenai grimaced. Poor Anko, so afraid of relationships.

Kakashi nodded in the background. Somebody else with a fear of commitment, or relationships for that matter.

She took another sip from her bottle and glanced at Anko. Maybe she should set them up?

She imagined the kids for a second... and buried the idea deeper than than Akamaru buried his bones, or Kiba evidence.

Not going there, so not going there.

Some people were happy being single right? Why mess with their lives? It would probably end in misery. And if it didn't, chronically late kids with a psychotic streak weren't something Konoha needed.

--o--

Shikamaru shook his head as Naruto succumbed to Hinata's advances, Sakura and Ino thankfully wandered over to Sasuke and tried to reanimate him.

He hoped they would be busy for a while.

"So, I'm still not sure whether to feel sorry or jealous." Kiba muttered.

Choji shrugged. "I'm kinda jealous. I wish a girl would look at me like that." He pointed at Hinata and Naruto. Though neither of them were actually looking at each other, what with their eyes closed and all.

"Yes, I get what you mean. Sasuke hogged all the girls and the one he didn't hog Naruto managed to snag. How unfair is that?" Kiba shook his fist against the heavens. "And he didn't even realize it."

Shino pushed his glasses up. "We should be glad he didn't, if Hinata had been distracted on the missions she might have performed even worse." He said blandly.

"Hey, she didn't perform badly." Kiba defended his teammate.

Shino sighed. "I wish I could give her a better review, however her anxiety and self-doubt prevented her from reaching her optimal performance." He glanced at Shikamaru. "Bad luck in the pairings of the tournament did the rest. At least she didn't fight Neji, the fight would have been rather short... and it would have damaged her sense of self worth even further."

"Pretty harsh analysis of your teammate." Shikamaru said looking at Shino with half closed eyes.

"Yeah, don't talk about Hinata that way... besides, if she had been distracted by thoughts about her lover boy she might have not been as nervous and thus reached her optimal performance." Kiba air-quoted the last part.

Shino considered his words, then nodded. "There is a strong likelihood of that happening. We will have to observe her performance on the next missions."

Kiba blinked. "You mean that actually made sense?"

Shino looked at him and Shikamaru actually thought he could see a smile there.

"Given enough tries even the blind will eventually realize that one plus one equals two."

Kiba glared at him and turned around, towards Choji. "Do your teammates also enjoy teasing you this much?" He asked.

"Only Ino, but she's only joking." Choji grinned at him ruefully.

Shikamaru stepped beside Shino. "He completely missed the real insult you know?"

Shino looked at him utterly expressionless. "I have no idea what you are insinuating."

"I'm sure." Shikamaru looked at Hinata and Naruto. "They led a wolf to the lamb here, didn't they?"

Shino nodded.

"I'm only wondering, who's the lamb? Hinata or Naruto?" Shikamaru continued.

The two boys watched the couple for a few more seconds, enough to see Hinata move her hand slightly down, onto Naruto's thigh.

Naruto's leg gave in a second later and Hinata landed on top of him, snuggling up even closer.

Shikamaru looked at Shino, who looked back. "Hinata." Both said at once.

--o--

Jirayia looked over the clearing. The kids had fallen asleep around the fire at some point.

The girls curled up around their respective target of affection relatively early.

The other boys had stayed up a bit longer and complained about the unfairness of it all. Well, Kiba had complained to Choji, since Shikamaru hadn't been interested at all and Shino had sunk into a pit of depression at the mention of him and romance together in the same sentence.

Poor guy, he still had to learn that there were people who like anything, even bugs... maybe especially bugs. Jirayia shuddered a bit. It took all sorts, but he didn't need to know about it.

But the boys had gone to sleep as well. And wouldn't the next morning be pleasant for them?

All had drunken their fair share of alcohol. None had abstained.

Honestly Jirayia had been a bit surprised by Sasuke. He didn't seem like the type to drink. But then, with the looks the girls gave the social recluse, he might have decided that oblivion was the only way to maintain control over himself.

Or something like that at any rate.

"They are so young." He muttered.

"That they are. But still, we send them out to kill and die." Kakashi answered from his position, leaned against another tree.

He and Jirayia had stayed a bit away from the others, refraining from drinking much more than a small bottle of sake.

"You disagree?" Jirayia asked blandly. He didn't like it either, but...

"It wouldn't help would it? If we don't train them now the other villages will still have their genin. And they won't stop training them just because we find it distasteful." Kakashi sighed.

"Is it really that bad?" Jirayia asked. "They see the world, they meet interesting people. Help safe many."

"And kill. Sakura already has three kills. More luck than anything else true, but she still has them." Kakashi leafed through his Icha Icha.

Jirayia wondered when he actually read it. And when he just had it open to say he read it.

"That's true I suppose. But what can you do about it? That's the world we live in... why didn't you drink anything by the way?"

"Hmm?" Kakashi didn't look up from the book. "Oh, that. It's just my turn to stay sober and keep watch today."

Jirayia nodded, so a tradition. Not uncommon amongst many ninja.

He looked down at the kids again. Maybe they had started their own tradition down there.

"I wonder how fast that circle will shrink over the years." Kakashi muttered. "First one, then two, then three. And soon it will be just three or four left of the original nine."

Jirayia sighed, but didn't say anything. What could he say. Kakashi was right. It would probably go down that way. Their lifestyle slowly whittling away at their comrades, until only the best were left.

And so they remained in the darkness, watching their charges, both young and old.

"Well, at least it had proven amusing." Jirayia said.

Kakashi snorted. "The fun isn't over yet. You know why nobody complains about staying sober?"

Jirayia shook his head, he didn't. He knew he and Tsunade would complain if they had to stay sober and didn't do it out of choice.

"We get to wake them up the next morning." Kakashi grinned behind his mask.

And Jirayia found himself grinning as well.

Waking up this bunch of drunks promised to be an unique entertainment.

"Well then, I hope the night goes over soon." He winked at Kakashi.

Though he felt pretty sure Kakashi could only guess that he winked. Just as much as Jirayia guessed his grin. The fires down there didn't provide that much light.

"Well, I heard talking makes the time fly by. And maybe I can help you with the plot for the next Icha Icha?" The sly bastard sounded utterly uninterested. Just a friendly offer of help.

"Well, your students do provide me with a lot of inspiration... as do Anko and Kurenai."

Kakashi looked at the women in question.

"They are going to kill you if they ever find out." He simply said.

"If you help me they will want to kill you too. Never mind your students, at some point they will surpass you."

Kakashi stayed silent for a long while, then he shrugged. "Worth it."

Jirayia laughed quietly. "Fine, then tell me your ideas Hatake."

--o--

Sasuke opened an eye, but quickly slammed it shut again.

Sure, theoretically the sharingan protect him form bright light. But he had to use it first.

And honestly, he had no desire to test it's abilities against a hangover.

He used his other sense to make sense of his surroundings instead.

Apparently he had fallen asleep at the training ground. Two girls snuggled up to him, which felt nice. He reviewed that revelation.

Two girls? He cracked his eye open again and sure enough, Ino and Sakura had curled up against him, whether for warmth or for other reasons he couldn't say. Didn't want to say.

But, where he had been drunk yesterday, today he had a hangover, which made all the difference in his enjoyment of the situation.

And he did enjoy himself yesterday. He wouldn't admit it out loud, but he had enjoyed kissing the girls. And feeling them pressed up against him.

He wearily glanced around and spotted Naruto, who had a girl snuggled up to him as well.

Good for him, and it meant that Sasuke wouldn't have to worry about the Hyuuga coming after him.

He tried to push Ino off of him, with little success. Whenever he pushed, Ino clawed herself into him harder.

Annoying.

He tried the same with Sakura, with similar results. None.

His left eye twitched. His head hurt, his stomach felt like Naruto's cooking had invaded again and his mouth tasted like something had died there.

"Get up!" He growled at the girls. Sakura cracked an eye open and glare back. "Shut up! I'm trying to sleep."

He felt his twitch increase. "I'm not a pillow Sakura."

"Coulda fooled me." She settled down on him, harder than before.

"Enough!" He grumbled and pushed her and Ino off, as he stood up.

And promptly fell down again, the world spun around him. "Ugh the hell?" He muttered.

Sakura had glared at him as he moved away from her, but had crawled to Ino and used her as a pillow instead.

"Dehydrated. Drink some water... and bring some for us." She muttered, interrupted by a long yawn.

Sasuke glared at her and slowly stood up. This time the world remained stationary. And he could navigate to the table, where a few bottles remained. If he remembered right there had been water here yesterday.

He looked at the one bottle of water remaining and glanced back at Sakura. Whoops, that would only be enough for him.

After he had emptied the bottle he looked around the clearing some more, the other boys had arranged themselves around the fire-pit, hogging all the warmth.

He sighed and plopped down on a chair.

How could he have let yesterday happen? Itachi could have shown up and... well, been beaten down by Jirayia and the other jonin in the tree. Those that hadn't been drunk at least. He could see Anko hand out of the tree, but somehow she held onto it with one hand and a foot.

Kurenai on the other hand sat on her branch as if somebody had nailed her there.

Asuma somehow managed to sleep on two branches at once, held only by his neck and legs.

How he pulled that one of, Sasuke had no idea and he had no desire to find out as well, it looked rather uncomfortable.

Kakashi and Jirayia were nowhere to be seen, but that might just mean they had already woken up, or they went to bed after all.

It didn't matter, he still had to be vigilant for Itachi's appearance. What if he had shown up yesterday and been defeated without Sasuke? He had to defeat him. He had to bring him to justice.

He was the avenger. He couldn't leave that to somebody else.

Itachi had told him to become stronger...

Sasuke blinked, something about that last thought seemed strange. He had no idea what though. It almost seemed as if something blocked him from realizing... something.

He sighed, no point crying over spilled tea. Yesterday was yesterday and he wouldn't let stuff like that happen again. Well, at least not too often. Even though he felt like hell warmed over, he somehow did feel, well more at peace with himself.

And waking up with two cute girls in your arms did have a certain appeal.

--o--

Libido hung over Selfreflection's shoulder. The young man had dragged him into the alley he found himself in now, after Libido had stupidly, stupidly attacked the fortress of Purpose.

After yesterdays astonishing victory Libido had been so full of himself he thought he could do everything.

But the rain had stopped the suns had disappeared and instead the sound of distant thunder had filled the wasteland.

And every crack of thunder seemed to seep into Libido's muscles and take away the strength he had felt only hours ago.

As he reached the fortress he had been weaker than before yesterdays battle, much weaker.

And so, instead of shattering the fortress it had shattered him.

He had beat a hasty retreat, but scores of Itachis had followed him, slowly, methodically and mercilessly.

He had managed to reach the city of Unconscious Thought, hoping to loose the Itachis there. But they knew those streets much better than him.

Their circle slowly encased him, driving him from one street to the next, leeching what little strength remained in his body away.

Until suddenly a hand had appeared from a side street, and dragged him into it.

He hadn't even been able to scream, before another hand had covered his mouth.

"Shhh, don't make a sound, they might hear you." The stranger had said, and pulled Libido deeper into the alleyway.

After a few steps exhaustion finally caught up to Libido and he collapsed.

The stranger had sighed and slung him over his shoulder.

They had walked for a while like that, Libido resting and the stranger silent.

Until Libido just had to ask.

"Who are you?"

The stranger hadn't stopped, however he did slow down for a second, before he picked up speed again.

After a few more minutes he had finally answered.

"I'm Selfreflection and you, you might just be the key I need."

He hadn't said anything more after that, no matter how much Libido asked.

After what must have been hours they finally stopped.

Libido looked around, he didn't recognize this place. But he didn't like it. Darkness surrounded them, corpses hung from the ceiling and the walls, and red eyes seemed to dominate one wall.

"Can you walk?" Selfreflection asked.

Libido pushed himself up and nodded, he had mostly recovered. But he wouldn't try to fight another Itachi any time soon.

"Then come." Selfreflection signed to follow him and Libido obeyed, carefully watching the ceiling and everything around him for a trap.

They reached an altar, a book rested on it.

Selfreflection opened it reverently and showed a passage to Libido.

"I know something is wrong with this. But I can't figure out what it is!" He growled. "I brood over this for hours, but I don't come any closer to solving the puzzle. This is the secret to bringing the Itachis down. But I can't..." He spat on the ground, clearly frustrated.

Libido read the words on the page:"If you want to kill me. Live Miserable. Hate Me."

Libido looked at the next page. The same words again. And again on the next page, and the next.

He looked at Selfreflection.

"It's only that one sentence, through the entire god damn book." He shook his head. "It makes sense. It makes perfect sense. If we want to become strong enough to defeat Itachi, we need to hate him. To push us to our limits and beyond, to allow no distractions!"

He paced up and down the room. "But I know there's something wrong there, I just know it!"

Libido agree, partially. He agree that something was wrong, he didn't agree that it made sense. He found that if you just enjoyed life you became stronger already. Hell, it worked for him.

Then again, he hadn't led the most happy life, even now he suffered again and again.

But... when he felt good, he fought the strongest, and when he felt bad he fought the worst.

And yesterday, he hadn't hated the Itachis at all. He had just felt a vague sense of contempt as he ripped them apart.

He turned to Selfreflection, he had to set the record straight. But the other boy had already turned to him.

"You have to leave, they are coming." He pushed Libido to and a little hole in the ground. "Go in there, it leads out of the city. Don't come back through there." He looked back. "I'll contact you. Maybe. Now hurry, before they get you."

And with that he pushed Libido down the hole and covered it up.

--o--

Ino glared at Sakura. Or at least tried to glare. Glaring with your eye closed turned out to be a difficult feat.

And she didn't dare open them. The sun hurt enough with her eyes closed.

"Why are you cuddling up to me again?" She asked instead.

"Warm." Sakura replied sleepily.

"Why is it whenever we had something to drink I wake up with you cuddling me?" Ino ignored the reply. Maybe Sakura didn't have a thing for Sasuke after all, maybe she had other preferences?

"Cause Suske went away. Lemme sleep, pillows arn't supposed to talk." Sakura slurred sleepily.

Ok, so they had cuddled up to Sasuke, that seemed better. However, if Sakura wanted to use her for a pillow she would be up for a rude awakening.

As soon as Ino felt like opening her eyes that is.

Ugh, her head hurt. And Sakura was the one to blame, just like last time.

At least it didn't hurt nearly as badly, since she hadn't drunk the really hard stuff and plenty of water.

"Hate you by the way." She muttered at the near comatose girl beside her.

Sakura cracked an eye open. "What for?"

"The drinking. Are you wanting to develop a habit?"

"Nooo, just some fun you know?" Sakura rolled her eyes.

"Can't we wait with this kind of fun?" Ino sighed and rolled over, to get up. She really needed some water.

Sakura moaned as her last pillow disappeared.

"From now on no alcohol until we are at least 16 you hear me?" She glared at the girl curling up on herself.

Sakura glared right back, the effect utterly ruined by her position. "Since when are you the voice of reason here?"

"Since always. I mean who stopped you from throwing away your childhood because of one musty old book?" Ino sniffed at Sakura, she had been such a silly little thing.

"Point, but if I had then maybe I wouldn't have to kill those sound bastards." Sakura countered.

"Oh? You alone against three? And if you had trained hard from the beginning you would have been able to take them out without using lethal force?" Sakura might be good, but no matter what she did, she wouldn't be that good, that soon.

"Ehh point." Sakura sighed and weakly pushed herself up. Only to fall right back down. "A little help here, I seem to be too tired and stiff to get up."

Ino rolled her eyes. "You are just lazy." Still she pulled Sakura up, who immediately slumped against her shoulder, forcing Ino to almost carry her around.

"I see Anko's student takes after her master." Kurenai muttered tiredly.

Ino turned around and saw Anko slumped over Kurenai's shoulder, in a perfect imitation of Sakura.

"Don't tell me she learned that from Anko?" Ino asked, dread creeping into her voice. "What else will she learn?"

Kurenai laughed easily. "It's not that bad, she'll save the really evil stuff for the enemies. And you'll always have access to the best toys, since she will 'forget' to file the proper documents on what she took from them."

Sakura blushed a bright red. "I had to file reports?" She asked.

Kurenai giggled. "No you didn't, but Anko falls for it every time."

"Bwuh? Reports? I didn't need to file any right? I haven't killed anybody in like a month!" Anko looked around blearily, before she fell back into her hangover coma.

Sakura whimpered. "I don't wanna end up like her!"

Ino smirked at her. "Too late for that now Sakura, you are destined to become a mini Anko. There is no escape."

She noticed that Kurenai stifled a giggle with difficulties. So if Sakura turned out like Anko, then Ino obviously turned out like Kurenai. She could live with that.

"Could you tell Hinata to talk to me once she wakes up?" Kurenai smiled as she watched her student sleep on Naruto's chest. An arm slung around him, holding him tightly to her own chest.

"Sure." Ino nodded.

"I have to get this lightweight to work. She has a lot of stuff to prepare for tomorrow." Kurenai chuckled evilly.

Sakura whimpered as she looked at Ino. "You won't do that to me will you Ino?" She asked fearfully.

Ino remained silent and only smiled as she dragged Sakura towards the tables. There should be some water somewhere. Or at least some juice, of the non alcoholic kind.

"Right Ino? Promise me Ino!" Sakura's voice had a desperate tinge to it. "Inoooooo!"

--o--

Kiba woke up to the most adorable scared squeal ever. He opened an eye and saw Hinata practically fly off of Naruto, red from head to toe.

She seemed ready to faint but somehow managed to control herself.

Then her expression of horror changed to one of wonder, followed by the biggest smile he ever saw on her face.

Of course, then she squealed again. And this time she did faint. Luckily Naruto caught her before she hit the ground.

But that reminded Kiba of something, he and Shino had the duty to do as Hinata's teammates.

"Wake up Shino. We have a job to do." He shook his teammate until he could hear him grumble about fleas and dogs.

Shino never seemed to get the hang of rising with the sun.

Always so irritable in the mornings, Kiba couldn't help himself and laughed.

"Up, Hinata's out of it and Naruto is alone for now."

He dragged Shino towards Naruto. Ino and Sakura sat at a table, squabbling about something. Or better Sakura talked to Ino, who ignored her with a superior smile.

Shino had apparently managed to wake up enough to be coherent, just as they reached Naruto.

"Hey Naruto, we need to talk to you." Kiba smiled disarmingly at the boy. Really he had no idea why Naruto flinched back like that.

Akamaru barked at Naruto amused, showing that he had a very good idea why Naruto might find a smile with that many teeth mildly disturbing.

"Uhh sure?" Naruto asked as Kiba led him away form Hinata.

After he made sure that Hinata couldn't hear them, even if she faked unconsciousness, he stopped and turned to Naruto.

Akamaru and Shino positioned beside him, to maximize the effect.

"Now, I know you are an alright guy. But, you are also a bit stupid." He started the conversation.

"Hey!" Naruto shouted.

"Quite." Kiba glared at him. And Naruto settled down, glowering at him.

"So, excuse me for making sure. I mean after last night even you should realize what Hinata feels for you. Right?" They all glared at Naruto.

Naruto looked blankly back at them. He couldn't be that dense could he? Naruto stared at them some more, Kiba imagined he could hear the wheels turning in Naruto's head.

"Uhh... How Hinata feels for me..." He glanced to her lying in the grass and blushed. "Uhh what with the kiss and all."

Kiba nodded encouragingly. At least Naruto seemed to be on the right track.

"She uhh likes me? But she kissed Sasuke as well, so that..." One look at Kiba's face convinced him that he should drop that line of thought.

"Practice run?" He asked.

Kiba nodded, Sakura and Ino apparently had Hinata use Sasuke as a training dummy. Easy to work out. Also marked Sasuke as their property with which they could do as they pleased. He wondered if anybody should inform Sasuke of that fact.

Naaah, let the bastard realize that for himself. Served him right for hogging all the girls.

"So, we are just going to tell you. If you hurt her we will hurt you." Kiba grinned, again with far too many teeth. Akamaru growled at Naruto and from Shino the buzzing of insects could be heard.

"You get it?" Kiba asked pleasantly.

Naruto gulped and nodded. "No hurting Hinata-chan, got it... why would I hurt her? I don't want to fight her."

Kiba could only barely restrain himself from hitting Naruto.

"You know what kind of hurt I mean. If you say the wrong thing to her." He narrowed his eyes at the boy and slid a finger across his throat.

Naruto nodded again. "Uhh I think I get it. Umm can I go back to her and make sure she's ok?"

"Sure." Kiba nodded and smiled pleasantly. For real this time.

After Naruto had gone he turned to Shino. "Honestly? I don't get what she sees in him. He's so stupid."

Shino looked after Naruto and watched him sit down beside her.

"He's nice though and determined."

"Heh, suppose he is. Oh well, as long as he doesn't hurt her." Kiba shrugged.

"Damn, my head hurts. Let's go home, I think mom has something against hangovers."

--o--

Anko looked over team seven. After they had recovered from the little get together they had one last training unit. Nothing serious, as they wanted to be in top condition for tomorrow.

She grinned at them. "You did great my little minions."

Grumbling all around.

"If you loose tomorrow you will be sorry of course. But I have no doubt you'll make me proud."

Exited nods came from every corner, vicious grins covered their faces. Oh how proud Anko felt. Her own little killing machines!

"Go and get some rest now. Tomorrow is your day to shine!" She held her fist in the air. Striking an impressive figure.

Her students didn't copy her, but they didn't laugh either, so she called this a success.

After the kids were gone Kakashi stepped up to her.

"Well, we did our best." He said, looking after the kids.

"You think it will be enough?" Anko asked him, he had more experience after all.

Kakashi considered the question and looked at Jirayia, who shrugged.

"Individually? They might just be strong enough. But their chances aren't that high." He shrugged.

"But, if they were allowed to enter as a team?" He shrugged again. "Well, they would utterly crush any opposition. There's just no chance for the other teams to beat them."

He considered it some more. "Well maybe Asuma's group, they are are tightly knit thanks to Ino. But Kurenai's group doesn't have anybody who really pulls them together. They can work well together. But not to this degree."

Anko grinned, just what she wanted to hear, something to rub into Kurenai's face. After this morning she needed that.

"Of course," Jirayia added. "It's mostly their personalities that mesh well, nothing we did really."

Anko stared at him flatly. "Their personalities mesh?" She asked. Did they train the same kids?

"Well if Sakura is with them. She's kinda the isolator that allows the boys to work well together." He amended.

"And even if she doesn't fight with them, occasionally they do manage to overcome their differences." Kakashi added to that.

Anko glared at them but relented. She didn't have to mention that to Kurenai after all.

"Well then, we'll just have to wait for the Tournament." She said, rubbing her hands together.

Tomorrow should be fun.

--o--

Ok, no fighting again... and here I thought I would get to the tournament in chapter 5 or so.

Oh well, hope you guys enjoyed the party.


	10. Three Cuts

Expectations of Development

-o-

Three Cuts

-o-

Confidently Sakura strode into the stadium. Naruto followed her excitedly, looking left and right at all the people who had already found a place to watch the fights.

Sasuke wore his usual bored expression. But he couldn't hide his own excitement from his teammates. His eyes moved rapidly in an attempt to take in everything, just like Naruto.

Sakura could also see the faintest smirk on his lips.

"Sakura!" Ino screamed as she tackled Sakura in a bone-crushing hug. "This is soo awesome! And you are going to fight down there!" Sakura squeaked weakly in response. But Ino had already moved on to give Sasuke a hug and a kiss.

The fact that the boy only put up the token resigned resistance spoke volumes about Ino's and Sakura's headway. Curiously Sakura didn't feel jealous, much.

After the kiss and Sasuke's muttered reply Ino moved on to Naruto and hugged him as well. No kiss though. "Heh, good luck to you too Naruto. You'll need it against Shikamaru." She teased the boy.

"Oi! Me, need luck against Shikamaru?" Naruto snorted. "I'll just tell him to give up and he will. He's too lazy to do otherwise."

"Wish I could do that." Shikamaru sighed. "But Ino has threatened me with... well sufficient to say she threatened me. And I have no intention of loosing."

Naruto gaped at him, then at Ino. "What? What can you threaten him with Ino?" He asked carefully.

Ino grinned. "Moving in with him."

A collective shudder ran through the boys Sakura noticed. So, they had no problem cuddling, but the second it came to any sort of commitment they started shaking like babies. Typical.

"Come on Ino, if the boys don't want our presence." She sniffed and led a giggling Ino away.

As soon as she felt sure the boys couldn't hear her anymore she broke out in giggles herself.

"Fear the almighty girls. If you don't do what we want we will move in with you! And we will take over your entire life."

Ino broke out into open laughter. "Hehehe, yeah. Though I suppose we shouldn't complain about it... and well, we are only 12, it's to be expected that the boys are still in their girl are icky phase. We do mature faster after all."

Sakura nodded sagely. "That's true. Oh hey Tenten!" Sakura blinked as she saw the girl from team Gai move through the ranks of spectators. She would go up against Gaara wouldn't she? A shudder ran over Sakura's back.

"Oh, hello you two." Tenten smiled at them.

Sakura dragged Ino over to the girl. "Tenten, you are going up against Gaara aren't you?" Sakura asked, just to make sure.

Tenten blinked in confusion. "Yeah. Something wrong with that?"

Ino shuddered and looked at her in sympathy. "Ohh, I wouldn't want to go up against him. We watched him in action in the forest of dead." She shuddered again.

Sakura whirled around, away from Tenten and took hold of Ino's shoulder. "You saw him in action! Why didn't you tell me!" Sakura barely managed to keep her voice below shouting. Frantically she looked around, then dragged Ino and Tenten into a corridor inside the stadium.

"We have to fight in a few minutes... well you have to fight in a few minutes." Tenten said, glaring at Sakura, as she ripped her arm out of Sakura's grasp.

"Whatever, this is important and we still do have over ten minutes. Now, do you want some info on Gaara's fighting style or not?" She looked at Tenten challengingly.

Tenten looked back for a second, then looked at Ino. "She's right, what can you tell us?"

Ino took a deep breath, then looked at her friend and Tenten. "Well... if you face him... you should give up. That's the only advice I can give you." She looked at the ground.

"What?" Tenten shouted angrily. "Just because you aren't strong enough to fight him..."

"No, she's right. The best thing to do is give up when facing Gaara. There's only..." Sakura stopped herself. "No, there's nobody in this tournament who could beat him."

After all, Tenten didn't know Naruto and in any case, unless they were teammates Naruto should tell people himself.

"What?" Tenten stared at Sakura in shock. "What do you mean? Why should I give up?"

Sakura took a deep breath. Would they believe her?

"Because he's a demon." Another voice spoke up smugly.

Sakura snorted, what timing. "No, he isn't." She countered Temari and turned around to face the new girl.

"Oh, and what would you know? You haven't worked alongside him and you haven't seen him kill. I did." Temari sneered at the girl. "Oh, I also saw that Hyuuga fight. He won't fall for your cheap tricks. I'll enjoy watching him beat you into the ground."

Sakura rolled her eyes. Trash-talk much? "Ohh, I suppose that means I'll have to bring out my expensive tricks then." Ok, she would have to work on her trash talking a bit. That had been awful.

Temari smirked. "Well, if you hadn't wasted all your money on hair care products you might have some left for your tricks."

Tenten and Ino watched the verbal match with rapt attention Sakura noticed, as she glared at Temari. She hadn't spend much money on hair care products thank you very much. She still had enough, since she bought them in bulk. They were cheaper that way and she needed the money for the poison ingredients.

"Oh please, it's not as if Shampoos are expensive. At least I use some. That straw you call hair isn't exactly flattering you know? And I think I can smell it from over there." Sakura countered.

Temari smirked nastily. "Oh? Well I suppose if I took an hour everyday in the bath, instead of training, I might have soft pretty hair as well."

Sakura could feel the twitch, but Temari hadn't beaten her yet. "Oh? That's what you think? No wonder you suck so much. I spend only 5 minutes a day in front of a mirror. And those five minutes? Chakra training. It's so much faster when you can simply clean and strengthen your hair with the application of a little bit of chakra eh? Of course, you need to be good at using it first.

"All those little strands of hair, you have to do it individually. Can you do that? Oh wait, judging by your hair you can't!"

Now Temari's eyes twitched as she glared at Sakura. "Hmpf, you win this round bitch." She muttered, turned around and walked away.

"I won the first and second round as well! What's that? It's three to zero for me?" She shouted after the retreating girl.

When she turned around she saw Ino and Tenten gaping at her in open wonder.

"You... you really only spend 5 minutes on that hair?" Tenten asked in awe.

Ino nodded eagerly. "Yeah, that's, that's just amazing! I need at least half an hour for mine. Even if I do hurry.

Sakura blushed and laughed uneasily. "Err, not until today... but, you know that would be an awesome way to train your chakra control..."

The girls considered it for a few seconds. "So." Tenten said finally. "We start training like that immediately?" She looked at the other girls who nodded eagerly. Sakura would have to thank Temari for giving her the idea... if she hadn't already handed it to Temari as well.

So, no thanks necessary after all. But, they still had to talk about Gaara.

"Tenten, you really should give up. Gaara might not be a demon, but he has one sealed inside of him." She looked at the girl.

Ino nodded, her face a mask of fear. "Yeah, he'll kill you given half a chance. When we saw him... he used sand to catch his opponents... and then he, he squashed them. He crushed them in a coffin of sand... he made it rain blood!" Ino looked green. "Gave me some nightmares."

Sakura glanced at her. She hadn't mentioned those to Sakura, not that she had to.

Tenten looked at Sakura. "Would you give up against Neji? You know he'll beat you."

Sakura shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. But that isn't the point. The point is, Neji will beat me, sure. Well, he might beat me. But he won't kill me! From what Ino and Temari said, Gaara will."

Tenten looked at her silently for a minute then shook her head. "I'll still fight. I can't just give up. Would you give up if you had to face Gaara?"

Ino looked at her, then at Sakura and laughed. "I would give up, but then I'm not stupid enough to pass as a male."

Sakura glared at Ino and sighed. "Good point. Well then. Do your best, and try to survive ok? I kinda do like you."

Tenten snorted. "Same to you, try not to piss Neji off too much, he isn't the most patient man around."

Sakura nodded. "Thanks for the warning. I might have to ignore it though."

Tenten turned towards the exit. "Eh, I'm ignoring your warning as well, so fair's fair I suppose. Now come on. We don't want to be late."

-o-

After the introduction of the fighters only Sakura and Neji remained in the arena.

Sakura looked at the referee. He had a toothpick in his mouth and looked just a bit too pretty. Not that she minded. She looked at Neji, if he ever stopped frowning he might look pretty too.

Better not tell him that tho, she didn't need to piss him off, at least not yet.

"You should give up." Neji said suddenly.

Oh, but he wanted to piss her off, figures.

"You cheap tricks won't work against me." He sneered confidently at her.

Sakura looked over her shoulder, to where she knew Temari watched the fight.

Temari looked back, a smug smile on her lips. Bitch.

She sighed as she looked back at Neji. "And you think just because you tell me to I'll give up?" She shook her head. "Besides I don't need cheap tricks to beat you. You are a close range fighter. I'm long range. Does that tell you anything? You can't beat me, unless you manage to come close. And if you think I'll let you..." She smirked at him.

Neji didn't raise to the bait. "You are a looser. Just like Naruto, Hinata and Lee. The fact that you came this far just means that your opponents were even bigger losers than you."

Sakura once again turned to Temari and gave her a smug smile.

The glare she received in return was well worth the insult by Neji. "Thanks I suppose. But I thought my cheap tricks wouldn't work on you. Isn't underestimating me the first step to them working?"

One of Neji's eyes twitched slightly. "I'm well aware of your strengths. But genjutsu won't work on me, and that would be your only hope of beating me."

Sakura nodded slowly. He hadn't bothered to research her training. And lying didn't fit into his character. He and Sasuke were made of the same material. Bluntness only surpassed by Naruto.

"Are you two ready? Or do you want to trash talk a bit more?" The referee asked them with a raised eyebrow.

Sakura looked around the ranks of spectators. While she could see some amusement, impatience did begin to creep into them.

"I'm done, but maybe Neji will want to praise his own skills some more?" She looked at the boy, an eyebrow raised in challenge.

He sneered back. "I'm ready as well. Let's get this over with. I want to finish this fast."

The referee nodded and shouted. "Then... Begin!" He jumped back almost immediately.

Sakura did as well. She also pulled out some kunai and threw them at the rapidly advancing Neji, but he dodged them effortlessly.

She smirked, if she hadn't grown used to having her projectiles dodged like that she might have worried slightly now. Instead she tugged on the wires slightly, intersecting them.

Neji hadn't lost his sneer, even then. He simply hopped over them. Rolled over his shoulder only to face the wires again.

His eyes widened in surprise but he jumped again. His foot barely managed to avoid being snared by Sakura.

She meanwhile widened the distance again, while her wire-play forced Neji to mime a frog, jumping over the twisting wires again and again.

"What's the matter Neji? I thought you wanted to end this fast? Instead you are playing jump rope like a little girl!" Sakura shouted at him.

Of course, she could move the wires much faster than he could his entire body. Ahh she loved her wires. If the sound bitch were still alive she would have thanked her for the awesome weapon.

Neji glared angrily at her and suddenly his hands blurred and her wires grew slack. Before his chakra could reach her and potentially disrupt her own chakra control she cut the connection along the wire.

"Aww, that's unfair!" She shouted. "Do I break your toys?"

She sighed, as he righted himself again. Sure he his clothes had accumulated a thick layer of dust from the jumping and rolling he did. But he didn't even breath harder.

"If you think little games like that are going to beat me..." He sneered, again.

"You know, when your father warned you that if you didn't stop sneering like that it would stick? He was serious." Sakura shouted over at him.

Her eyes widened as he screamed in rage and charged her again.

At least the sneer had disappeared. She threw two more kunai, even as she retreated rapidly.

Neji ignored them, seeing as they missed him by a good 20 centimeters on each side.

Sakura winced, she had misjudged that throw a bit. Neji moved just a bit faster than expected.

"You'll pay for that!" He shouted, just before the twin explosions behind him threw him to the ground.

Sakura smirked as his face took the brunt of the impact. Man, that had to hurt. Just too bad that the worst of the explosions had passed him bye.

"You know? I never believed Kakashi, when he said that angry opponents make mistakes, but it appears he was right." She said conversationally, watching Neji slowly push himself up.

He glared at her, but it didn't appear that he had been damaged much, if at all.

Damn. If she had taken that explosion like him... well, she wouldn't have been damaged that badly either, but still. It would have shaken her somewhat at least.

Neji took a deep breath. "I see. I misjudged you." He didn't glare at her anymore, and he didn't sneer either. "You... you are actually somewhat competent." He grudgingly admitted. "It would appear, that I have to take you serious."

Sakura raised an eyebrow, he hadn't taken her serious up till now? Uh oh... now she would definitely loose! Yeah right.

Still, while she had scored the first blows, she should have made them count for more. She had rattled him sure, but now he would be more cautious.

She grinned at him. Not that she couldn't use that as well.

They circled each other, Neji keeping his distance from her. Watching for a hole in her defense he could exploit. Sakura for her part looked for a way to force him into an attack, she needed him distracted, if she wanted to have a chance of scratching him.

They remained silent for a few minutes, simply watching the other. Finally Neji sighed in resignation.

"One of us will have to attack." He said, clearly expecting her to be the one.

"Hmm? I enjoy leading you in circles. There's no point for me in attack you at the moment." Sakura replied.

She didn't feel like wasting ammo. And at this range he would be able to avoid anything she threw at him easily, he might even be able to outrun her wires.

"Maybe I'll insult your father some more, it worked last time." She goaded him, but Neji simply rolled his eyes.

"It worked because you didn't know the effect it would have on me and I didn't expect it. That advantage is gone now. It won't work again."

Sakura nodded slowly. She didn't think it would. While Neji might have a temper problem, he wouldn't fall for something that transparent. Sadly.

She glanced at the audience, who apparently started to get impatient, what with the lack of action.

She sighed. If this had been out in the field, she wouldn't have minded probing the enemy out some more, but they had to give a good show if they wanted to make chunin. And Sakura needed that money, all the equipment she needed turned out to be hellishly expensive.

"Fine, fine. I'll go first." She muttered, pulling out six kunai.

She could see Neji tense up, as he prepared to rush her. She glanced at her teammates, barely even seeing him anymore. He used the moment of distraction, rushing her again, twice as fast as before.

She grinned weakly, just as expected. She flung her first two kunai. Again, they wouldn't have forced him to change direction, however he didn't want to risk a repeat performance and decided to avoid them. It slowed his approach considerable, but jumping backwards still slowed Sakura down more than her kunai slowed him.

She flung the other two and again he avoided them. He had closed almost half the distance by now.

Sakura frowned annoyed. And flung her last kunai.

This time his eyes widened and he jumped into a desperate lunge, that saved him easily from the explosion on his right. But it hadn't even slowed him down any. He grinned confidently at Sakura.

Sakura for her part turned around and pelted off, even if he actually managed to run faster, he would catch up slower this way. And if she could keep him occupied for just a little bit longer...

"Running away won't safe you, once I got you it's" He stopped abruptly, Sakura couldn't see his eyes widen, but she bet they did. After all, even he would feel the explosion from four explosive seals if they surrounded him on all sides.

She twisted, just in time to see him stop. Her kunai moved a little bit more, but she quickly stopped their movement.

She smirked at him. "As you said, running won't safe you. I can ignite them faster than you can run."

Neji glared at her wordlessly. But... he didn't appear beaten, not going by his confident smile.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Give up now and I won't have to blow you up." She said.

He snorted. "Do your worst Haruno. While this is an interesting little trap, if this is the extent of your abilities... well, then this is already over."

Sakura glanced quickly at the referee, who shrugged. Neji curiously hadn't moved at all, not even an attempt. The bastard planned something.

Well, they wouldn't get anywhere if she didn't blow him up, she would just make sure to get some distance while he burned.

And with a roar the tags exploded as one, incinerating the area Neji had stood seconds before.

Even as she jumped away Sakura winced. That had to hurt. Hopefully there would be enough left of him to return to active duty... or at least survive.

Though... where did that...

She stared in shock at the ball of chakra, blowing away the smoke of the explosion. Slowly the chakra receded, revealing an unharmed Neji.

He stopped spinning and looked at her, a superior smirk firmly planted on his lips.

"As I said, if that is the extend of your abilities... this is over. My Kaiten is the ultimate defense."

He seemed to say it not to her though, but to... she followed his gaze and saw that he talked to another Hyuga, who sat in the stands.

Sakura looked back at him. Well, didn't this just turn out to be freaking great? Her opponent had a defense that she couldn't... she glanced at him again. And smirked. Sure, he hadn't been touched, but his little defense had cost him at least a little stamina. She could actually see him breathing hard now.

"Oh, are you so sure? From here it looks as if you just turned yourself into a fancy spinning top." She taunted back.

Were there any other drawbacks to the technique? She would have to see it again, preferably without the debris of an explosion between them.

He rolled his eyes, not impressed at all by the quality of her insult. "Is that truly the extend of your creativity? Even children can come up with better insults."

Sakura kept quite, she had other things on her mind than insulting him.

She took a deep breath. This would get really complicated, really fast. Best to make it fast.

A bit of chakra released the wires with the kunai from her hands, as soon as she reached into her kunai holder she used more chakra to bind a new set onto them. The gloves she wore prevented the wire from cutting into her flesh.

In each hand she held five kunai, ten in total, the maximum she could control at the same time.

Neji rolled his eyes in contempt. "You should stop while you are ahead, there's no way you can control that many wires, and even if you could. It would be useless."

Sakura laughed roughly. He talked and talked about him not underestimating her and here he went and did it again. She blinked and as soon as she opened her eyes again she could see him rushing towards her.

But she had no problems with that, the closer he came the better for her. She wanted to see his technique close up after all.

Still, she flung her kunai almost immediately and started to circle away from him. The wires trailing behind her kunai could clearly be seen by him, unlike the genjutsu in the previous ones. If he had actually paid attention, he might have noticed those anyway. But he hadn't then, he wouldn't repeat the mistake Sakura felt rather sure of that.

He closed rapidly again, but her wires were much faster than him and with a quick pull half of them homed in on his back.

Another pull send the others directly back to Sakura.

She had the satisfaction to see his eyes widen in shock, as he jumped to the side barely avoiding the incoming projectiles. But instead of stopping they pursued him further, driving him into a circle.

Sakura hastily dropped one wire, reducing the number of pursuing ones to four. It had almost crossed another and she didn't have the concentration to spare in picking it up again.

Neji meanwhile found himself face to face with five more kunai, arrayed just so, he could dodge them, but with her reflexes one would hit him.

And once he had been hit...

He stopped, spending just enough time to send a heated glare at her, before she send the kunai at him. And again he spun into the kaiten. Her kunai were deflected rather violently, but she had counted on it and didn't bother moving them again.

Instead she stared at Neji, observing every little detail she could. There had to be a weakness, there just had to be...

He stopped only five seconds after he started to spin, obviously conserving chakra, and slowly he came to a stop, standing elegantly, his arms spread eagle. Another sneer on his face.

"I already told you, it's useless. Your knifes will never penetrate my Kaiten."

Finally he looked her in the eyes, probably expecting a defeated expression.

He probably hadn't expected Sakura to be laughing herself almost to death.

"Bwahahaha!" She moved her hands into her kunai pouch quickly. She only had twenty more kunai, only ten more with wires, but it should be enough.

"If that's what you call an ultimate defense, I wonder how the Hyuga are know as the strongest of the leaf!" She shouted at him, quickly flinging kunai after kunai at him, she couldn't give him the time to recover, not as long as there was the slightest chance of him managing to close the distance.

He glared impotently, but he didn't even bother trying to run, instead he spun into another Kaiten.

But instead of letting her knifes hit him again, she stopped just short of the circle, waiting, smiling.

She couldn't see it of course, but she could imagine his panicked expression right about now.

As soon as he stopped to spin, he would be perforated, if he didn't stop spinning, he would run out of chakra. She had him well and truly trapped.

But, just in case... she shifter her foot slightly, just enough to touch one of her discarded wires.

She stared at Neji, or better the wall of chakra he still expelled. Sweat ran down her face, she concentrated on twelve things simultaneously, one of which gave her a headache with the weird pulsating motion Neji gave the... no! The wall of chakra expanded!

She forced her kunai back sharply, but only one actually followed her motions fast enough, the others were hit by Neji's chakra and thrown away, her control of them ruined. Desperately she forced her chakra into five wires again, sending her last kunai after Neji.

He hadn't even waited to stop spinning, instead he had immediately broken into a sprint for her. Luckily his prolonged use of kaiten had left him both weaker and slightly confused.

Confused enough to slow him down considerably, he also couldn't avoid her kunai. He did manage to move just enough to take it in the back, where it wouldn't hinder him too much.

Sakura had only regained control of three more kunai, one of which had been blow so far away, she immediately gave it up for lost, the other two however would still serve their purpose.

Neji had crossed over half the distance between him and her already as she grabbed another handful of kunai and flung them at him, he grimaced as he shoved his hands forward to deflect them, twisting slightly to receive her other two in a somewhat harmless position on his back.

Not that they had enough force to really hurt him anyway at this point.

Then he ripped his arms up, grinning tiredly at her as he caught the kunai in front of him and reared his arm back, to throw them at her.

Until he stopped moving. He had moved fast one second, only to stop stock still a second later.

Sakura breathed a sigh of relieve as she watched him standing there, a kunai sticking ever so slightly in his throat.

She had forced it up, the moment his hands had move to intercept her kunai.

He had been a good meter away from it then, five from her.

If she hadn't moved it back with him... he would have impaled himself on it... and she would have to add another kill to her list.

"I win!" She shouted to the referee. The blood rushing through her ears so loudly she couldn't be sure if he agreed or not.

But Neji nodded slowly, as pulled back and held a hand to his throat.

He coughed weakly, and winced, rubbing it slightly. "She does... if she had wanted to... I would be dead now." She could see him shaking there, just like her.

"Winner: Haruno Sakura!" The referee shouted and finally Sakura collapsed.

She hadn't even noticed how drained she felt. Breathing heavily she watched the sky. At least this time she hadn't gambled her own health away, not like last time.

Something heavy fell down beside her.

"I... I was careless." Neji muttered, a hand still at his throat.

Sakura nodded, soaking up the noise the exited crowd made.

"If... if I had... damn, I can't think of anything to win this one..." Neji shook his head.

"All you would have to do, is outlast me. I already was on my last leg. Moving those wires... keeping them in the air... I didn't notice then, but... I've got barely any chakra left." Sakura shook her head.

Neji nodded slowly. "You assume I have anything left. The kaiten uses far more chakra than you might think... and I had to think up the last part." He shook his head. "If I had thought about it before the match. I would have reacted faster. I would have... heh, I wouldn't have wasted time in the kaiten thinking up ways to beat this."

He pushed himself up. "Well fought Haruno. Maybe I've been mistaken about you."

Sakura snorted. "Maybe? I won."

He rolled his eyes. "That doesn't mean much. As I said, if I had prepared better..."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "And if I had been willing to reveal my trump-card already it wouldn't have gotten to this point in the first place."

Neji stopped walking away from her and turned around, just in time to see her push herself up. "Trump-card?" He asked, eyebrow raised.

"If I told you, it wouldn't be much of a trump would it?" She responded.

He nodded slowly and made his way out of the arena.

Sakura grinned at the people cheering for her and waved back a bit, before she also made her way out. She needed to rest a bit before her next match. Even if she hadn't been hit once.

Luckily she didn't push herself into chakra exhaustion, but still, she needed as much time as possible to recover.

-o-

Tenten stared at him as he walked slowly up to her.

Really, he got why she stared, but he couldn't resist rolling his eyes. "What?" He asked her.

"You lost." She muttered unbelieving.

"I did." He replied. He still didn't understand why it didn't bother him more. Probably simply the fact that the fight had been stacked against him from the beginning.

"How?" She asked, barely able to grasp that he could loose.

Lee didn't look much better.

"Simple, she knew I would be her opponent, she designed her fighting style to counter mine. Long range against short range, usually the advantage lies in long range." He shrugged, seemed simple enough. "Also... I made the mistake of not researching her and what she thought up to counter me. We'll see how well she does against other opponents."

"But I never beat you!" Tenten nearly shouted at him. He sighed.

"Yes, but you never really tried to beat me either. You helped me train against long range opponents, true. But you never tried to beat me. And even if you did, your fighting style isn't suited to beat mine... at least not without some modification."

Tenten looked as if she would start to cry at any second.

"But... she couldn't have started training seriously until a month ago! How could she improve that much so shortly?"

Lee nodded seriously.

Gai, Neji noticed kept quite.

"She didn't, not really." He responded. "From what I gathered she always had excellent chakra control. From there it's only a matter of mental flexibility. Not even intellect as such, just the ability to split her attention up." Neji looked at Haruno and his expression darkened as he spotted Hiashi talk to her. He quickly turned away.

"Though I must admit... controlling all she did... impressive, very impressive."

Lee sighed. "That she would beat you before me..."

Neji didn't look at him, but maybe, just maybe he would be able to pawn Lee of on her. Would serve her right for beating him.

"Well, since she is obviously better than me, she's your new rival then?" He asked his teammate an eyebrow raised.

Lee's head whipped around and stared at him in confusion. "But... but... Sakura-chan... I..."

Well, whether Lee decided to make Sakura his new rival or not, the stupid look on his face alone would have been worth it.

-o-

Sakura made her way up the stairs. On her way she met Naruto and Shikamaru.

"Heh, good luck you two." She told them. Though she held Naruto up. "Go all out at the beginning, don't give him time to think." She whispered in his ear.

Naruto looked at her confused, but nodded. Sakura herself didn't feel so sure about fighting Naruto the next round, but Shikamaru might actually be worse.

Especially considering that she only managed to recover half her kunai and wires.

"That was an impressive fight." A hard, cultured voice said behind her.

Slowly she turned around and found herself gazing in the eyes of another Hyuga. An older one.

"It was pretty exiting yes." She muttered as she held his gaze. Or tried to. Looking into those eyes turned out to be pretty unnerving.

She could see the faintest smile on his lips.

"Do you mind following me?" He asked mildly.

She looked over to Kakashi, where he stood beside Sasuke, he just shrugged.

"Well, I don't think you're the type to lure defenseless girls into dark places, to have your way with them, so why not." She indicated for him to lead the way.

He drew back affronted, but Sakura couldn't be sure she didn't see a small smile play on his lips.

As they walked he started talking again.

"You remind me of somebody, from my youth."

Sakura repressed the crack about dinosaurs and the like. He might have found it funny.

"I do?" She asked instead.

"Yes, well. From my time as an active Ninja. She... was quite the character." He smiled ever so slightly.

"Oh? What was she like?"

"Cheerfully sadistic, a bit disconcerting for somebody so young. But considering who she worked for before... she was quite well adjusted." The Hyuga, Hiashi if she remembered correctly. He was Hinata's father, seemed to walk down memory lane.

"Huh... you worked with Anko-sensei?" Sakura joked.

Hiashi stopped still, not counting the trembling.

"Uhh... something wrong?" She poked him carefully.

After a few second the trembling stopped and he shook his head. "No, I was just... surprised." He muttered. "Though what's even more surprising is the fact that Neji still stands. Anko wouldn't have let him walk out of there."

Sakura felt her eyes widen, Hiashi had actually worked with Anko. Woah, she would have to ask Anko about that.

"Eh, I might have to face more people, it wouldn't be smart to reveal all my skills too soon." Sakura replied.

Hiashi nodded slowly. "I see."

Looking around Sakura noticed that they were alone, somewhere in the bowels of the stadium.

Not that she couldn't scream for help, she could still see the entrance through which they entered.

"What I wanted to talk to you about though... is the fact that you beat the kaiten." He glared down at her.

Sakura rolled her eyes. If that was the best intimidation he could pull off, she wondered how he kept his clan in line. Sure, his eyes kinda bothered her. But besides that? Anko could be much scarier, especially if she carried glistening knifes. She shuddered just remembering.

"I see you are aware of your situation." Hiashi said haughtily.

Sakura glared at him. "I'm not scared of you. I just remembered Anko's training methods."

She shuddered again. He did too she noticed.

"Ah... yes, I suppose that would be worse than me."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "And that isn't even taking into account that I didn't beat the kaiten. At least I don't think I did. It's some kind of secret Hyuga technique if it has a name." She grinned at him and he nodded gravely.

"Then I can expect a thank you from you?" She asked, quite boldly. But asking him meekly for forgiveness... it wouldn't have sat well with her.

He raised an eyebrow. "Thank you? For beating our most prized technique?"

Sakura nodded. "Well, I can see there being two possibilities. Either there is a hole in the technique, a hole I found after only seeing it twice. Which would make the technique pretty useless, at least until the hole is fixed. And if the hole still existed then you needed to be told about it. So a thank you is required for bringing this to your attention."

She looked curiously at him, but his face gave nothing away, so she continued.

"Or, a much more likely possibility, especially seeing how Neji nearly beat my hold on him, you have fixed that hole already and I only won because I went up against somebody who didn't have the experience to use the kaiten to it's maximum potential. In which case I gave those watching a false impression of the capabilities of the Hyuga clan. Also worth a thank you, since it would make people underestimate you."

Yeah, he definitely grinned there.

"I see. But they would also consider the Hyuga weak, impinging directly on our status." The grin had disappeared again, but she didn't worry about it. He was just testing her.

"Eh, the loss of status after one fight between genin is negligible as is the advantage I suppose. So... nothing changes?" She frowned at him, why would he separate her from the crowd for something like that? It shouldn't matter one way or the other to him.

"That... is true I suppose." He looked at the walls. Cheering could be heard from outside.

"So... what is this actually about?" Sakura asked herself loudly.

"Hmm? What do you mean?" Hiashi asked back. The asshole clearly enjoyed himself. Making her guess.

"It's not about the fight. So it has to be something else, something I'm involved in, or at least can influence." She looked at him, for any sort of hint, but he kept his face carefully blank, a seasoned politician.

What did she do that mattered to the Hyuga clan? She thought back, the only interaction with any clan member had been... Hinata... who she set up with... Naruto...

"Uhh... well I would think getting some measure of control over the local... well you know." She looked around carefully. "Would please the clan."

Hiashi's eyes had widened at her words. Good to know you could faze the asshole.

"You know?" He muttered in shock.

"We are teammates." She shrugged, no need to admit to anything.

"Does Hinata know?" He asked, looking at her sharply.

"Huh? Hinata... no he didn't tell her yet. Uhh you know I might have to make him tell her..." Damn, Hinata would need to know. And she better...

"Ah a pity, but I'm sure it will work out." He murmured.

Now it was Sakura's turn to stare at him in shock.

"Hmm? You are right of course. Gaining a measure of control over Uzumaki would please the clan." He paused for a second. "It also should keep the compound save from any pranks he would try to employ against it."

"Hey, he didn't pull any since he became a ninja." Sakura defended her teammate.

Hiashi nodded, once again in full control of himself. Sakura thought she heard a "Pity" there, but she had to have imagined it.

"I see. Well, I simply wanted to congratulate you on bringing them together."

Sakura looked at him weirdly. The hell?

"If this works out... well I imagine that with a Hokage as a husband Hinata will become quite powerful in the clan." Hiashi added.

Now Sakura stood there completely flabbergasted. "Huh? Hokage? I mean yeah, Naruto's strong, but he's not exactly Hokage material."

Hiashi smirked at her. "That's what they said about..." He stopped himself and smiled at her. "But that's another secret I'm not at liberty to discuss."

Sakura could feel her eye twitch. The bastard played with her! And she couldn't do a thing!

"In any case, if it all works out, and you brought them together. Well, I'm sure the clan will make a powerful ally to you and whatever goals you might have." He waved to the arena. "Though I'm sure you want to see how your teammate is doing. He's up against a Nara... brains versus brawl I believe?"

Sakura glared at him, standing there smiling smugly as if he knew everything.

"You Hyuga are all arrogant bastards aren't you?" She growled.

He merely raised an eyebrow, the smile didn't move an inch.

"Bah, fine! But be careful, maybe I'll remind Anko of your time together." She shouted over her shoulder as she stalked off."

-o-

Hiashi shuddered, as Haruno shouted her threat. If she knew how much he actually feared that happening...

Anko hadn't been the scariest thing that ever happened to him, that would have been Hinata's kidnapping. Neither had she left the most painful experience. His wife's dead kept the top position on that place quite firmly. Right before his brother's dead.

But Anko did come a distant third. Her and her damned poisons... he didn't believe for a second that she didn't research those in her spare time...

Maybe he should get her to have some fun with Neji... or convince her student... Neji did so need to learn to relax on occasion.

He smirked nastily. Really life in the Hyuga clan could grind the strongest man or woman to dust, if they didn't find a release.

As he strode into daylight again and looked at Hinata, watching her crush... or was that boyfriend already, fight... maybe she had found her release, all he could do was hope.

He had done what the clan expected of him. Driven her, tried to make her stronger. But sadly... he lacked the necessary skills, to take away her fears. She had been too gentle to respond well to his teachings.

As expected Kurenai did a better job of it. But it had driven a wedge between them. He sighed, no use thinking about what if's. Hinata had a chance to be happy. Hopefully she would be able to become stronger as well.

Outside the pressure of the clan... she might even have a chance.

Maybe if she became a member of the branch family, without the massive expectations?

He shook his head, he still had time. No need to decide yet. He still had a few years to make that decision. And if he had any say in the matter he might never have to make it.

There had been another reason he wanted Hinata to have a wedding outside the clan after all.

And with Minato's brat... well, certain allowances could be made from the old men. He felt pretty confident of that.

-o-

Naruto grinned at Shikamaru, who stood a few feet away form him.

"How about you just give up now and spare both of us the bother? Ino can't be worse than fighting me." He asked the boy. Naruto knew him well enough to realize Shikamaru wouldn't actually want to fight.

"I wish I could, I really do." Shikamaru sighed. "But Ino doesn't bluff, and she threatened me with moving in. Sorry, but I just can't risk that. Besides, this fight is a one time thing, Ino moving in with me would be for weeks, maybe months... maybe permanent!"

"Don't flatter yourself Shika!" Ino screeched from the stands.

Naruto sniggered, poor boy was utterly whipped. At least it provided some amusement to his friends.

Then he thought back to a day ago and Hinata. Which while nice did have some troubling implications. But Naruto felt rather confident that he could come out on top. And unlike Shikamaru, Naruto wouldn't have a problem having somebody move in with him.

"So you two are ready?" The referee asked them.

Both boys nodded. Naruto eagerly, Shikamaru resigned.

"Then: Begin!"

As soon as the word had left the man's mouth Naruto's hands formed the familiar seals and a second later over twenty shadowclones appeared.

They immediately charged Shikamaru, who instead of retreating, like he should have done, charged them head on.

All the Naruto's gaped for a second as the other boy tore into them, kunai whirling wildly, almost erratically. But they did their job reducing any clones in Shikamaru's way to a white cloud and a second later he stood in front of Naruto, his shadow snapping forward in an attempt to ensnare Naruto.

Naruto flinched as the shadow made contact with his own and Shikamaru gained control.

Naruto still stood there utterly flabbergasted. "Huh? What happened?" He asked dumbly.

Shikamaru smirked. "I won." Though the smirk left his face as soon as it had appeared.

Two shadowclones held kunai to his throat. "Are you so sure of that?" They asked easily.

"Eh, I suppose this would have been too easy after all."

Naruto could hear the crowd go wild. The battle had barely started and they had already managed an apparently decisive attack and counterattack.

Shortest match ever it seemed.

Of course, then Shikamaru's shadow caught his clones and forced their hands away form his throat.

"Well, then. Since I still have you at my mercy..." Shikamaru smirked.

Naruto grinned back, oh? He thought so did he?

"You are missing over half of my clones, you are aware of that aren't you?" He asked lightly.

Shikamaru's left eye twitched, as he let go of Naruto and just barely avoided the kunai a clone had flung at him.

Naruto couldn't stop grinning. Shikamaru had no way to beat him. Even if he did manage to trap him in his shadow. Naruto's clones would just free him again.

Easily the best first opponent he could have had.

He created some more clones and send them against the frantically dodging Shikamaru. He lost most of them in seconds, but he could just send in another wave.

Naruto calmly watched Shikamaru dance through his clones. Had he always been this fast? Even with clone after clone punching and kicking at him, he managed to avoid the worst of the damage, while Naruto's clones disappeared left and right.

Shikamaru actually managed to create a cloud of smoke, making it almost impossible to follow him.

If Naruto didn't need the clones to prevent Shikamaru from trapping him helplessly in his shadow, he would have dismissed them all already. But he couldn't do that, at least not without risking a loss.

He created another wave, but told them to spread out.

"Come back!" He told the remnants of his previous wave, still engaged with in the cloud Shikamaru had created.

They jumped back almost as one, only 3 of twenty five had survived.

Slowly the smoke settled, revealing a heaving Shikamaru. Several bruises adorned his body and sweat ran down his face.

"You... can... keep... a... guy... running..." He panted at Naruto.

Naruto shrugged modestly. "Oh, they are just a few clones. Nothing special." He smirked at the boy.

This battle would be over soon. And it would have been so easy.

"Hey Shika!" Ino shouted down to them. "I revise my statement. You can't win against him, just give us a good show!"

Naruto felt kinda bad for him, really he did. Even his teammates had given up on him. Well Ino had.

Shikamaru stared at her, before he shouted back. "So I can give up now and you won't..."

"Hell no, make sure it looks good!" She shouted back.

Naruto could see him twitch. "If it's any consolation, I won't beat you too badly." Naruto said.

Shikamaru sighed pathetically. "Can't be helped I suppose." And charged Naruto in a suicidal dash, totally ignoring his own safety.

Naruto stood his ground, instead he let his clones intercept Shikamaru. He frowned as the fists passed harmlessly through him, though only for a second, before he realized that Shikamaru had send a bunshin.

Sadly too late to prevent Shikamaru from taking control of the clones, all twenty of them, all arrayed around Naruto. He whimpered as he realized what Shikamaru planned.

And as the clones reared their arms back... he frantically tried to dispel them. Of course, Shikamaru also controlled him, with the clones he had more than enough shadows to work with after all...

Damn, bad idea using so many...

He closed his eyes, just a second before impact. Hopefully this wouldn't hurt too much.

A second later he came to again and damn had that hurt!

But his clones were gone and Shikamaru didn't look all that good either. The chakra to control his clones even for a few seconds must have been enormous. Especially for Shikamaru.

Naruto slowly pushed himself up. Somehow Shikamaru had managed to hit him almost everywhere.

And his entire body ached. But, he could still stand, and if he used the Kyuubi he would be good as new.

"Screw that!" Ino shouted again. "If you can do this to him you finish it! You hear me?"

Shikamaru glared back at her for a second, he still had managed to catch Naruto again. Forcing his hands apart again, to prevent him from calling more shadowclones.

Naruto frowned at him, slowly pushing against his control, drawing from his reserve of chakra.

And he grinned as he could see Shikamaru struggle against that control, a little bit more, and Naruto would break his hold.

With a gasp Shikamaru gave up and allowed Naruto to move again.

Naruto grinned at him. "So, you gonna give up? Or do you want to continue this? You're nearly done for anyway."

Shikamaru sighed in annoyance and slowly shook his head. "You heard her... I'll have to try at the very least." He grumbled.

Naruto laughed easily, at least this would be some fun. "Suit yourself." He said, his hands forming the familiar seal once again.

And again 20 clones sprung up around him. He could have created more, but he didn't see the need to bother. It took too much chakra as even he could grow tired eventually, and twenty clones should be more than enough to beat an exhausted opponent.

He looked at Shikamaru again, who grinned back lazily... uh oh.

Suddenly the other boy accelerated again, all hints of fatigue gone, as if they had never existed.

"Yeah! Go Shika!" Ino shouted from above.

"You idiot! He faked you out!" Sakura shouted as well, angrily.

He growled, as he send his clones to intercept. He kept himself out of the way though, he wouldn't give Shikamaru a chance to pull the same trick twice.

He snorted as his clones once again punched through Shikamaru. Another bunshin, he quickly looked around, where had he hidden himself?

Naruto hadn't taken his eyes of for even a second, he had to move fast enough to disappear in the blink of an eye, so he had to use a replacement technique.

He glanced at the bunshin, or better what had remained behind, a startled bird...

He didn't want to look up now. But, if he wanted to retain any chance of victory he had to.

A falling Shikamaru greeted his eyes, an evil grin on his face the other boy bore down on him, Naruto glanced at the shadows on the ground, even the one Shikamaru cast didn't move, he couldn't control the shadows if he didn't have contact with them. Naruto grinned, he still had some time.

Suddenly a black mass stretched from Shikamaru, even faster than the boy fell and connected him to Naruto's shadow.

Immediately something slammed Naruto into the ground, hard. And it kept pushing for a few more seconds, painfully squeezing him into the ground. Until a pair of feet slammed into his stomach, forcing what little air remained out of his throat.

The same force pulled his hands up, and held them at Shikamaru's throat. His empty hands.

Shikamaru's held some very sharp kunai.

"I win." The boy said simply.

Naruto stared at the kunai, then at Shikamaru.

"Give up." The other boy glared at Naruto.

Naruto stared some more. With the Kyuubi he could recover from a slit throat...

"Winner: Nara Shikamaru!" The referee shouted quickly.

Naruto chuckled and pushed Shikamaru off of him.

"Yeah. That would have been foolish." He grinned at the boy. "Congrats." He held out a hand.

Shikamaru looked at it, before he shook it. His own hand trembled slightly and he rolled onto his back, staring at the clouds.

"You aren't even winded are you?" He asked resigned. "And... if this had been real... you wouldn't have given up." Shikamaru stared at him and Naruto shrugged in embarrassment, Shika had him pegged.

"Damn, what's wrong with you Uzumaki?" His friend asked tiredly.

Naruto shrugged again, and picked him up. "Let's get out of here, we need to make room for the next fight." he said easily, more easily than he felt really. But Shikamaru had beaten him fair and square and whining about it wouldn't much good. Instead he would be happy for his friend.

"I can't even move anymore and you used so much more chakra than me!" Shikamaru muttered. "I'm totally drained, how the hell Uzumaki?"

"I'm a stamina freak." Naruto said proudly. And he would keep it at that, at least for now.

"You're a freak alright." Shikamaru glared. "If Ino hadn't pushed me so much I wouldn't have bothered at all."

Naruto grinned back at him. Shikamaru hadn't even realized what his victory actually meant. In a way Naruto felt glad. Sakura wouldn't have held back against him like she had against Neji, she knew she would have to disable him as fast as possible.

"You should rest up." He said, to which Shikamaru snorted. "Sakura's your next opponent after all." Naruto added innocently.

The pained whimper he received in response more than made up for his loss.

-o-

"He won, pay up." Ino grinned at Sakura, who looked quite chagrined at the prospect.

"Fine, I hereby release you from your week of servitude. You happy?" Sakura spat.

Ino nodded quickly a huge grin on her face. "Very." She looked at him and gave him a thumbs up.

"Hey good luck Sasuke." She skipped over to him and hugged him tightly.

He would have done something about it, but fighting only made them more determined... and it did feel nice. No reason to fight it then.

Sakura glared at Ino and removed her, before she hugged him as well.

He suppressed a sigh, it would have only pissed them off. And he didn't want to piss them off, if Ino had improved as much as Sakura... well, he did need to sleep at some point.

He looked at Lee, who glared back in a mixture of jealousy and excitement.

"Let's go." He said to the walking, talking fashion disaster and jumped into the arena.

"Indeed, let us show the fires of youth and let the better man win!" Lee shouted as he followed him into the arena.

Once there Lee opened his mouth again. "I'll show you that hard work can beat a genius like you." He said confidently.

Sasuke merely rolled his eyes and looked at the referee. "You two ready?" He asked, receiving nods in return. "Then: Begin!" he shouted once again.

Immediately both Lee and Sasuke jumped back, putting some distance between each other.

Sasuke also activated his sharingan, looking at Lee, taking in every detail and more.

"I'll end this quick. Just like last time." Lee said confidently, looking back at Sakura, a megawatt smile shining at her. "Watch me Sakura chan!"

Sasuke yawned, this match would be over fast. It felt kinda like cheating, really it did.

But, as Sakura took to saying. Work smarter, not harder. A philosophy Sasuke could live by... well as long as he also worked himself into the ground of course. He did need to get stronger. Just meant in the fights he would use his brain more, instead of substituting raw power for smarts.

With a battle cry Lee threw himself at Sasuke. His speed once again incredible, Sasuke could barely follow and only his sharingan enabled him to react in time.

He ripped his elbow forward and slammed it squarely into Lee's face, hitting it with the combined force of Lee's charge and his own swing.

The force flung Lee onto his back and Sasuke immediately follow him to the ground and held a kunai at his throat.

The crowd, who had just reared up to shout in a frenzy fell absolutely silent.

"I win, don't I?" Sasuke asked the referee calmly.

Lee had almost immediately recovered, but since Sasuke did hold a kunai to his throat, he couldn't do much. Damn, those pesky knifes and weak human physique.

"Uhh... I suppose?" The referee asked him.

"Shouldn't you announce it then?" Sasuke sighed.

"Yes, yes I should." The referee still seemed to have trouble believing what happened.

"Winner: Uchiha Sasuke!" He shouted nevertheless.

Sasuke pulled the kunai away and helped Lee up.

"I... how... how did I lose?" Lee stuttered. "Even Neji never beat me like this."

Sasuke looked at him long and hard. It had been an extremely unfair match-up. And really, if Sasuke had fought fair, well Lee would have wiped the floor with him, no questions there.

"Genjutsu." He simply said. "I used a genjutsu on you as soon as we stood in the arena."

Lee hung his head. "I see. You made me see you slightly to the side, all you had to do was lift our arm. I would run right into it... and with me momentarily stunned, you could easily subdue me." He sighed. "I should have been more careful."

Sasuke shrugged. "If this hadn't worked... well, I would have used other genjutsu, it's rather difficult to beat them, when created by the sharingan."

"Not impossible though." Lee countered.

Sasuke nodded, especially if an amateur like him used them. But then, Lee probably never had to deal with genjutsu, or if he had, Neji took care of them.

Good thing Sakura had beaten Neji... he glared at the boy who left him at her mercy. This would suck. He would have to go in and beat her nearly immediately. Before the poison she would use on him incapacitated him.

"I will improve though. Neji might not always be available to dispel a genjutsu. So I will have to learn to break them myself!" Lee shouted with conviction.

Sasuke sighed in exasperation, how could one boy be so high-strung?

On the other hand... he needed somebody willing to expose himself to whatever genjutsu Sasuke thought up... "We might be able to help each other." He said coolly.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Lee asked confused.

In fact, training against Lee, with or without the sharingan, would not only improve his genjutsu, but his taijutsu and stamina as well.

"I need to train my genjutsu further as well." He said slowly as they climbed the stairs back up to the ranks.

"Ohh a training partnership! A band of brotherhood!" Lee exclaimed excitedly and hugged him.

Sasuke felt his right eye develop a twitch.

"We'll be just like Kakashi and Gai-sensei. Rivals who challenge each other, driving ourselves to new highs every day!" Lee whirled him around.

"Should we leave them alone?" Sakura asked. Sasuke could just hear the raised eyebrow.

"They do look like they need some alone time." Ino replied.

"Hey bastard, do you have a new boyfriend?" Naruto snorted in amusement.

Oh yes, definitely a twitch.

"Why, we did forge a bond of brotherhood in the flames of battle." Lee prattled on. Sasuke regretted ever opening his mouth, no matter how much he improved thanks to Lee, no amount of power would be worth this!

"Ohh I see, maybe you would let us watch?" Sakura sniggered.

Lee looked at her in confusion. "Let you watch what? Our training?"

"Yes, exactly that." Sakura leered at them.

Definitely not worth it.

-o-

Kabuto looked down, at the assembled group of genin.

A quick glance at Orochimaru revealed nothing. He didn't give away a single thought.

Though Kabuto felt reasonably sure he must have been annoyed by the quick end of Sasuke's battle.

As for Kabuto himself, he found the quick and efficient ends to the three fights refreshing. Usually the kids fought big flashy battles, that only ended when one or both opponents fell over from exhaustion.

These battles ended as soon as one opponent managed to go for the throat.

Still it denied Orochimaru of his opportunity to watch Sasuke in action before he faced Gaara.

Kabuto watched as Haruno played with Sasuke and Lee. He couldn't hear a word she said and since her head faced away from him he couldn't read her lips either. But he didn't need to, in order to know she enjoyed pissing Sasuke off. The twitch the boy developed clued him in. The laughter at him just drove the final nail in the coffin.

Though Sasuke didn't appear to mind too much. No weapons had been drawn after all.

He just wondered why Haruno hadn't finished Neji with a poison. It would have been much safer and easier to simply poison him...

Then again, even if the various ingredients were available in and around Konoha, most took some searching and if you didn't have the time you had to buy them. Which would be rather expensive.

And even if you used poison, you weren't guaranteed a promotion.

Never mind the fact that she probably wanted to keep an ace in reserve.

She would fight one more time, before Sasuke and Gaara would start the invasion, against Nara.

Both weren't know for their massive chakra reserves and more for their smarts.

This should be an interesting battle.

Tenten and Gaara had finally faced of in the arena.

This on the other hand shouldn't take too long. The poor girl didn't stand a chance after all.

-o-

Temari looked wearily at Gaara, then at Sasuke.

The Uchiha might be a problem, Gaara could deal with genjutsu, somewhat. But if the Uchiha played it smart and she had no indication that he wouldn't. Then Gaara might just find himself in a bind that needed Shukaku to pull him out off.

Which would call in Konoha's Jinchuriku.

She had warned Baki and he had appeared worried. But he also said the Kazekage didn't think it would be a problem.

Temari snorted, her father wouldn't have the fight the nine tail Jinchuriku, she would. And she would have to watch out for Gaara as well.

And that didn't take into account the normal ninja from Konoha. With Gaara stalled by the nine tails... the forces of Sound and Sand would have to face against the full might of Konoha.

Not nearly the easy battle that Sound promised it would be, why didn't her father see that.

Of course Kankuro hadn't seen it either, but he always failed to see the bigger picture.

She sighed, all she could do was follow her orders and hope it worked out in the end. And pray, she could do that as well.

She watched her little psychotic brother prepare to break the girl from Konoha. The concept didn't fill her with the smug superiority it used to. Konoha had other people, stronger people and it hid them well. What would one genin less mean in the bigger picture?

-o-

And the next chapter is done. I hope you guys enjoyed the fights and I didn't disappoint you.


	11. Hidden Leaf

Expectations of Development

-o-

Hidden Leaf

-o-

Tenten glared at the boy in front of her. Now that she stood close to him, she got what Ino and Sakura had warned her about.

Gaara radiated killing intent. She could feel a cold fist close around her heart, squeezing ever so slowly.

But she wouldn't be beaten. She couldn't allow herself to be beaten. Neji and Lee had lost already, if she lost as well...

It would break Gai's heart and that would mean more proclamations of youth, and even more insane training. She worked hard, she gave up much of her free time for training. She wouldn't turn into Lee, there were limits.

The referee looked from one silent Genin to the other.

"So, no banter from you two?" He asked, just a bit surprised.

"I think it's wasted on him." Tenten shrugged.

The referee nodded, briefly Tenten thought she should have remembered his name, but really it hadn't been that important.

"Begin!" He shouted and Tenten immediately jumped back, giving herself some room to work with Gaara.

She should have made Ino tell her more about his fighting style, at least after Sakura had gone to fight Neji, but the fight had been too interesting.

And then came Naruto vs. Shikamaru;

She watched Gaara carefully. But he didn't move, at all. He just glared at her;

And their fight had been so very interesting. And well, Lee's fight against Sasuke had been over before it had even begun. No time to ask Ino anything.

She sighed as she circled Gaara, who still stood in the middle of the arena his arms crossed.

He didn't even turn with her, she stood behind him a perfect shot and he hadn't bothered with turning around!

She fumed as she pulled out a few kunai. There had to be a reason for it, she forced herself to calm down. Chauvinism probably didn't play a part in Gaara's plans. Quickly she threw the kunai at him.

"Let's see what you'll do against that." She whispered to herself. And watched in shocked disbelief as Gaara still didn't move.

Not that he had to, a shield of Sand sprung up around him and intercepted her kunai, stopping her attack cold.

She narrowed her eyes. How had he seen that?

Flinging some more she watched carefully for any hint on his abilities.

But she just managed to loose a few more kunai.

Slowly Gaara turned around, a sick and twisted grin on his face. "It's useless. That Hyuga may claim to have the ultimate defense." He sneered in Neji's direction. "But I actually have one. I don't need to waste chakra on it."

Temari truly doubted that. If she concentrated, she could probably feel the chakra in that sand. But if Sakura had told her the truth, then Gaara probably didn't even notice the drain on his reserves. Great.

She smirked. Sakura had shown that anything called an ultimate defense didn't need to actually be one.

She had expected Neji to win easily with his kaiten. Sakura had instead turned the fight around and used it against him. Who said Tenten couldn't do the same against Gaara?

She smirked at the boy, who looked slightly taken aback. "We'll see little Boy." She said easily.

But the insult didn't seem to faze him at all. He remained standing still, which unnerved he slightly. Shouldn't he have made an attempt to attack her? Anything at all...

Her eyes widened as a massive fist of sand formed in front of her and attempted to slam her into the ground. She frantically threw herself to the side, rolled over her shoulder and pushed herself up, immediately flinging several kunai at Gaara.

The projectiles were once again intercepted, but to Tenten's horror the hand hadn't slowed down at all. Instead a second hand joined the first, and both of them now attempted to crush her between them.

She jumped up, avoiding the fists by a hairs breath. The fist clashed and exploded in a fountain of sand.

With a whimper she realized that the sand followed her, what had Ino said? He killed his opponents by crushing them within a coffin of sand?

She pulled out a scroll and quickly unsealed four kunai.

This would hurt, it would hurt a lot. But it would be better than dieing.

Swiftly she threw the kunai up, as the sand encased her. In the background she could hear Temari shout something about not killing the Konoha bitch. But Tenten didn't think Gaara would listen.

Still, she shared Temari's sentiment, she would like to live thank you very much.

The last thing she saw, before the sand had encased her totally was Gaara's twisted face, his tongue running over his lips in a deranged fashion. Yeah, no way would she die with that mental image in her head.

She braced for impact and a second later, just as she felt some pressure form the sand she could hear four explosions. The shock wave she felt not even a second later ripped the sand away from her and threw her against the arena wall. The heat burned her skin, but ironically the sand, intended to kill her took the worst of it.

Ok, not so ironical, she had planned it that way after all.

She pulled herself up and grinned triumphantly at Gaara. "Not that easy Little Boy." She shouted at him. She wouldn't die that easy, no way in hell.

Gaara growled and she could see more sand forming. But, that wouldn't stop her this time, she just had to keep moving, avoid his snares and pepper him with kunai in the mean time.

After all, if the sand he used was too busy protecting him...

She ran around him, not fast enough to confuse him, but certainly fast enough to avoid his sand, at least for a while. She could feel it catching up, slowly but surely.

She frowned, her kunai had little to no effect on him, even with most of his sand following her, he had more than enough to block all of her attacks.

Luckily that didn't mean she had to give up. She pulled a scroll out of her pocket and unsealed some more kunai.

Just four for now, she needed a test-run, before she committed more.

She flung the first at Gaara and the sand reacted as expected. It didn't, as the kunai missed Gaara by a good margin.

The explosion still didn't touch him, as the sand also reacted fast enough to shield him against it.

Tenten grinned, it had still been a close call.

She could see Gaara twitch, as he realized just how close he had come to being hit.

The sand following her had stopped for a second, and it had lost some of it's mass too.

She grinned. This would be the turning point. If she could force him on the defensive, she could beat him.

But it all depended on whether she could strip his shield away, or not. The desert coffin had given easily. But that hadn't been intended as a defense.

"Let's see if you can stand up to this." She whispered as she flung her remaining three kunai at him.

Immediately the sand following her broke off and flew around Gaara, intercepting her kunai.

She stopped and watched curiously, would it be enough?

The explosion temporarily obscured her vision, but as the smoke cleared she could see Gaara. In front of him stood a sculpture of rapidly cooling glass. A big hole in the middle told her she could break through his defense with ease.

"Well Little Boy, it seems you 'ultimate defense' is just as 'ultimate' as Neji's turned out to be." She taunted him.

And Neji could go and be mad at her. His defense didn't hold up under combat conditions. He couldn't call it ultimate anymore than Gaara could.

The boy glared at her, then at the glass in front of him.

He frowned for a second, before the glass broke apart, crumbling into tiny pieces.

Tenten gulped, as she realized that Gaara now had some rather sharp pieces of sand, with which he could possibly rip her skin form her bones.

Better not give him any time to use it then.

She pulled out her scroll again and threw it up, unsealing a truly frightening arsenal of exploding kunai.

She had worked long and hard on all of those. Hopefully Gaara would crumble before she ran out of ammo.

Gaara himself stared at her with wide eyes. She fancied for a second that she could hear him whimper.

-o-

Temari stared at the kunai that came raining down on the kunoichi in the arena. If every single one of those were prepared with an explosive seal...

"Gaara! Get out of there!" She shouted, as close to a panic as she ever felt. Not even when Haruno stabbed her in the stomach, did she feel fear like that. The entire plan hinged on Gaara keeping a cool head.

But even Gaara might be hurt by that barrage of explosives. And he would loose his cool if he got hurt. And if he pulled out the one tails, Konoha would send out the nine tails... she didn't want to be anywhere near that little pissing match.

-o-

And Tenten flung the first four kunai at Gaara, who moved for the first time, trying to avoid the worst of the explosions, which proved that he actually had a brain.

And while he did indeed managed to avoid the first wave, which exploded somewhere behind him, Tenten could easily fire the next wave where he would be.

His eyes widened as the kunai slammed into his shield, that hastily sprung up to defend it's master.

They exploded, leaving a large hole, through which the next four kunai could fly. If Gaara had still been there... he would have been blown to bits, or at least been somewhat damaged.

As it where, he had evacuated the area fast enough and only a renewed shield had taken any damage. Tenten grinned as she threw some more kunai at him. He managed to block again, but his shield hadn't reacted nearly as fast as before and it had only been half as big too.

If she kept this up...

Gaara jumped out of the explosions rattling him from all directions and tried to put some distance between him and Tenten, she smirked. It wouldn't help him in the slightest. As Neji had pointed out. She was a ranged fighter, distanced worked to her advantage, not to his.

She waited a second, until she had eight kunai and flung all of them at Gaara. His eyes widened even more. Tenten had thought that impossible, considering they were pretty damn wide already.

But Gaara did manage it.

Sand sprang up from everywhere and pulled into a protective cocoon around him. The seals, surrounding him everywhere, Sakura didn't have a monopoly on well timed explosions, ripped his shield apart and threw him to the ground.

The next four kunai, sent as soon as they fell into her hands forced himself to call on even more sand, to shield his face. Tenten smirked dangerously. As the sand disappeared almost as soon as he had appeared.

Another array of kunai flew into Gaara's direction with almost inhuman speed and this time only a pityingly small amount of sand managed to spring up in his defense.

Still, she had to make sure, so she flung her last few kunai as well.

His defense had stopped the explosions directly in front of him, but the kunai on his sides ripped into him. Luckily for him they were too far away to do any real damage.

He looked up, shaking wildly as he saw the last wave surrounding him.

Tenten thought she could hear a resigned sigh, as they exploded, but she could be mistaken about that.

She watched calmly as the smoke cleared.

And cursed under her breath as Gaara remained standing. In fact, he looked much better than he should... then she saw the remains of another layer of sand slowly peel off.

Still, Gaara stood there, shaking like a leaf, back against the wall, stripped of his armor... no, not stripped. It had already begun to repair itself.

She sighed. If she had attacked immediately afterward, she might actually have beaten him... if she had been as willing to kill him as he was to kill her. But now...

She grinned at him. "Not bad Little Boy, seems you aren't that bad at all."

She giggled at his utterly confused expression. Kinda cute, if you discounted the insanity and the blood lust.

She turned to the referee. "I give up." And walked away from Gaara.

She might not have won the fight, but judging from the applause she got form the audience she had won their approval.

And sadly, she couldn't win. She had gone through her supply of explosive notes and none of her other weapons had the power to punch through his sand. So, better to give up now, that she had shown she could beat him, than after he turned this fight around and crushed her.

No point in appearing weak after all. And knowing when to give up and retreat was important for a leader. So her chances to make chunin weren't so bad actually even when giving up.

-o-

Temari stared into the arena, where Gaara still hadn't moved from his spot.

The girl had driven him around like a scared rat. She had driven around Gaara as if he couldn't crush her like an insect.

And then she had given up... and somehow made it look as if she won. After all, she simply walked out of the arena, while Gaara still cowered there, slowly getting his breathing under control again.

She looked at her father, who glared into the arena.

Did he still think this invasion would be easy? The leaf genin beat them on every turn, what would the chunin and jonin do to them?

She turned to Baki, carefully making sure nobody listened in. "We have to abort this. We don't stand a chance..:" She pleaded.

Baki shook his head. "She surprised Gaara, nothing more. And he had orders not to loose his cool."

He pointed into the arena. "And he won, even if she made it look as if he lost. Once he recovered she didn't stand a chance and she knew it."

Kankuro still stared into the arena. "What.. what happened?" He muttered in an ever repeating mantra. "Gaara... lost?" He asked finally.

"No he didn't, didn't you pay any attention to the match at all?" Temari glared at him.

"But... the girl walked out of there! And he just stood there." Kankuro apparently couldn't wrap his head around the concept. "And he was actually scared! When was Gaara ever scared?"

He whimpered. "Shouldn't we be scarred of somebody who scares Gaara?"

Temari sighed, a demon and an idiot for brothers. What did she ever do to deserve this?

-o-

"Hey, nice fight. Too bad you couldn't finish him off, but pretty nice nevertheless." Sakura greeted Tenten. "Way better than I expected this to go."

Sasuke nodded beside her. "Yes, and you did provide me with some ideas on how to defeat him." He smirked evilly. "He does appear rather afraid to get hurt for somebody with his powers."

Ino nodded. "He still hasn't recovered..." She pointed at Gaara, who slowly made his way up the stairs, shaking ever so slightly.

The referee looked around, making sure he had the attention of everybody and spoke up again. "We are giving the candidates a ten minute break to recover from their fights and for the spectators to get some refreshments."

Afterward he disappeared in a flurry of leaves.

"Well, what are we supposed to do for ten minutes?" Naruto asked bored.

Shikamaru sighed. "While you don't have to worry about anything, those of us who have to fight might want to recover at least some chakra. Not all of us have your bottomless stamina."

Sakura nodded. "And Hinata wants some attention too Naruto." She pointed at the girl who had turned beet red as Naruto turned to her.

"Ohh... of course." He said, clearly as embarrassed as Hinata. "Umm what do you want to do Hinata?" He asked awkwardly.

Sakura sighed, pulled out some coins and handed them to him. "Go get her some snacks will you." She pointed him at a vendor not far away.

The small group of kids watched them leave.

"I swear," Ino muttered. "It's the blind leading the blind with those two. Why did we think bringing them together was a good idea?"

Sakura rubbed the back of her head. "I believe that would be the alcohol... they are kinda cute though, right?" She looked at the boys.

Sasuke ignored the question entirely, and instead focused on Gaara.

Choji and Kiba gave her a thumbs up and Shino shrugged. "She seems happier." He admitted.

Shikamaru looked back and shrugged. "None of my business really." He said.

"What a ray of sunshine you are." Sakura muttered at Sasuke and him.

Ino nodded. "Why did we go for Sasuke again? I don't think we can blame alcohol for that one."

Shikamaru glanced at her. "I believe it had to do with him having and I quote:' A dark and mysterious past.'"

Both Ino and Sakura blushed brightly. "Err, maybe... but that's the past right? He's getting better."

Sakura tried to defend herself.

Sasuke didn't even twitch, she wondered if he even followed their conversation. Though it might be better if he didn't.

Sakura looked at Team Gai. The entire team had lost, though Tenten had come out the in official winner of her match at least.

Better than nothing Sakura supposed.

Kakashi and Asuma walked up to them. They had left them alone for the most part, just keeping an eye from a distance.

"Well," Kakashi started. "I hope you two won't hurt each other too badly?" He looked at Sakura and Shikamaru.

Asuma smiled at them.

"We'll try not to Sensei." Sakura said brightly.

"Eh, too much of a bother." Replied Shikamaru. Though Sakura suspected he already had plans to beat her. Which would be fine, she had plans to beat him. Though she didn't expect to use more than one against him.

"Good, good." Kakashi chirped. "Sasuke... be careful, you know Gaara is a tough opponent. Don't underestimate him, just because Tenten managed to drive him into a corner. If she had fought on..."

Sasuke didn't bother turning around. "She would have been killed?" Sasuke asked, boredom drenching his voice.

"Yes, exactly that." Kakashi said. "And if you aren't careful, and much more importantly willing to give up if necessary, you will die. Your team won't be there to help out. Gaara won't back off if he beats you."

Kakashi pulled Sasuke around and looked him in the eyes. "Promise me, you'll give up if it gets to dangerous."

Sasuke stared back, a hard glare on his face for the entire time. But finally he relented. "Fine, I promise. I won't fight till he somehow manages to kill me. Happy?"

Kakashi nodded enthusiastically. "Very."

"Yup me and Ino as well." Sakura added.

"Couldn't care less." Kiba grinned at Sasuke, a grin with way too many teeth.

Sasuke nodded in return. "At least you're honest."

"Would Haruno Sakura and Nara Shikamaru please come down!" The referee shouted in the arena.

Shikamaru groaned. "Are the ten minutes over already? I barely got any rest."

Sakura grinned. "Well, you shouldn't have dragged the fight out so long then. Should have kept it short and sweet, like Sasuke. You wouldn't have given me as much time to recover." She walked down, into the arena. Shikamaru only a few steps behind her.

"Whatever." He sighed.

"Sakura!" Naruto screamed over the crowd. She turned around and saw him waving at her. "Good Luck!"

Hinata shyly held his hand, nowhere close to hugging him. The lack of alcohol... but no, Sakura's help alone would be good enough. Hinata didn't want, nor did she need the help of alcohol in her relationship with Naruto.

"Thanks!" She shouted back and continued her walk.

-o-

Anko grinned widely as she watched her student take her position opposed to the Nara boy.

Sakura had taken out a Hyuga! Her student had shown those stuck up assholes how much their strength was really worth! Hah!

"She's not doing bad." Jirayia said, scribbling away in his little notebook.

Anko really wanted to have a look, but the old goat guarded it with gusto.

"Yeah, Naruto on the other hand..." She sighed. He lost against the Nara. He shouldn't have lost. She trained him, why did he loose?

"Eh, if Genma hadn't stopped the match he would have won." Jirayia shrugged.

"With a slit throat?" Anko ask amused. "He would have bled to death."

Jirayia shook his head. "Nah, he would have used the Kyuubi to recover from the damage. No problem there, believe me."

Anko narrowed her eyes at him. "He can really use it that well?" She asked.

Jirayia snorted. "Hardly. But he can pull it out well enough. A little thing like a slit throat he can recover easily enough. And from there... well, the Nara boy didn't have anything left. So easy job finishing him."

Anko nodded, even now Shikamaru looked a bit weak.

Genma looked between the silent genin. Apparently they had nothing to say to each other. Anko suspected they had already said everything they wanted to say. This match would be rather quiet.

She grinned as Genma lifted a hand and started the match. "Begin!"

Immediately Sakura went for her wires, only four this time. Anko frowned, hadn't she learned form Naruto? She couldn't underestimate Shikamaru. The boy always had a few plans up his sleeve.

Shikamaru for his part jumped back hastily, out of ranger of the wires. At the same time his shadow snapped forward. Anko had expected Sakura to do something about the shadow. But she simply stood there and grinned at the boy.

Anko could see him narrow his eyes trustful. She would be wary too if her opponent smiled like that. Carefully he stepped forward, slowly moving his hands apart.

Sakura obviously followed his example, and the wires moved with her hands.

"Faster than expected." Asuma said on her side.

"When did you show up?" Anko asked annoyed.

"He's been here as long as I have. We decided to give the kids a bit of room." Kakashi said.

Anko nodded and focused on the fight again. Something about the situation... "Kakashi?" Anko asked calmly, barely suppressing her grin. "Those wires... can they be controlled by his shadow technique?"

Kakashi looked at the wires and Shikamaru. "I doubt it, the things controllable through the shadow is limited by the original shadow. Shikamaru doesn't have any wires, so he can't use Sakura's."

Asuma chuckled. "That's true. Sakura bet on that, didn't she?"

Anko nodded a vicious grin forming on her lips. Oh yeah she did! Watch that!" She pointed down as Sakura's wires suddenly sprung to life and went for Shikamaru.

For a second it looked as if Sakura had him. But a second before the wires would have ensnared him he moved his own hands and the wires sprung off course.

Only one scratched his left leg. Anko couldn't even be sure it had penetrated his skin.

"Damn..." She muttered.

"He's quite the kid." Kurenai said, smiling at Asuma.

He nodded. "Smarter than me that's for sure. You can't beat him at a game that requires strategic thinking."

Anko glared at the boy. How dare he beat her student? Well, he hadn't beat her yet. Sakura had merely raised an eyebrow, then focused on regaining control of her wires.

And she did it fast, the wires, which had been thrown wildly off course had caught themselves and once again homed in on Shikamaru.

He yawned widely and moved his hands down quickly, totally throwing off Sakura's aim.

He smirked knowingly at her. Until the wires came for him again, much faster than the last time.

"Looks as if your boy can't keep up with my girl." Anko taunted Asuma.

"Oi, who taught her the wire work? You or me?" Kakashi piped up.

"Hey, she's my student too." Anko defended herself. And her student better beat Asuma's if she knew what was good for her.

"Hmm I suppose." Kakashi drawled.

Sakura meanwhile drove Shikamaru before her. Though Anko noticed him watching her hands closely... and her wires... no way. He wouldn't try...

His fingers moved, and instead of the wires going for him they went for Sakura.

Her eyes widened for a second, before she narrowed them, smiling sweetly at Shikamaru.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

"The hell?" Anko said surprised. "What is she doing?"

Asuma nodded as did Kurenai. Kakashi frowned at his student, though Anko thought he had an idea.

Jirayia chuckled. "Smart girl."

"Care to explain?" Anko glared at him.

He looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "She's trying to predict his movements. And her eyes would be a hindrance. Sure she could watch his hands and react accordingly. But her own hands will give a far more accurate warning. Especially considering how sloppy he uses the wires."

He looked down again. "And she doesn't need to see where he's going. She already knows that as well. As long as they are connected, she can predict where he is by her own position."

The assembled jonin nodded in understanding and watched the battle with rapt attention.

Sakura managed to nick Shikamaru a few more times, however he managed to scratch her as well. And both had managed to draw some blood.

Sakura however had a slight advantage, she did manage to cut him a few times more.

And it showed, Shikamaru moved a tiny bit more sluggishly, a tiny twitch of pain here or there when he jumped into a particularly painful dodge.

Sakura didn't show much of that yet, but Anko could see it coming soon as well if Shikamaru landed any more hits.

Suddenly he dropped to the ground, snatched a discarded kunai from Tenten's fight and pushed himself up.

Asuma grinned. "Nice going there."

Anko snorted. "So he has a kunai. He has several of them in his pockets."

"You aren't paying much attention to your own student are you?" Asuma asked her, his voice full of false superiority.

"I pay enough attention to her." Anko hissed at him.

"Then you would have noticed that she wears her kunai holders just like he does his. There's no way he can draw a kunai without her drawing one as well. But now he can attack her, while she only has the ones on the wires. Useful, yes but he can ruin any attack by this point. If he hadn't focused on attacking her back with the wires, she wouldn't have been able to even scratch him anymore." He answered smugly.

Anko growled, but decided that revenge could wait. What was Sakura thinking? Letting Shikamaru dominate the match like that?

But Sakura hadn't stopped smiling, in fact her smile threatened to split her face in two. Something she had to have learned from Anko.

Anko felt so proud.

Shikamaru sprinted forward, only stop suddenly, and whip his head around.

Sakura had spit something at the ground and a short curse could be heard from her. "Damn it!"

The first words any of the kids had said all match.

A bright flash chased the shadows behind Sakura away for a second, but Shikamaru had more than enough shadow left to continue his hold on her.

Sakura moved her wires wires frantically, even through his attempts to stop her.

And somehow she managed to cut him two more times and bind his legs.

Anko groaned, she had still been too late, as Shikamaru managed to drive the kunai into her arm even as he fell. They came together in a dirty heap, groaning and cursing.

Shikamaru quickly ripped the kunai out of Sakura's left arm slashed her right one, before he relinquished control of her shadows, two more slashes at her hands made those useless as well, then he had jumped back and moved far outside her range.

Sakura cursed as she pushed herself up, breathing hard. She stared at her hands and winced. Anko winced as well. The damage wouldn't prevent her from using the wires. But it would slow her down, and even her chakra control would be hindered by the pain even the slightest movement would bring.

"Well, that's it. It's over." Asuma grinned at them. "Shikamaru won."

Anko sighed and nodded. No way would Sakura recover from this one.

"Well, she fought well." Kakashi muttered.

"That she did." Kurenai agreed with him.

"You are giving her up too early." Jirayia grinned at them.

Anko whipped her head around and stared at him. "What do you mean?"

"Well, what's that she just took out from her breast pocket?" He asked innocently.

Anko watched, as her student pulled out a small vial and quickly downed it's contents.

She felt the laughter bubble up almost immediately. She barely noticed her student mirror her.

"So, Shikamaru." Sakura said conversationally. "Does it hurt already?"

"What?" Asuma asked worriedly. "What did she do?"

Kakashi shook his head. "I should have realized it, those cuts weren't nearly enough to slow him down."

Anko grinned at Asuma, how could she have forgotten this? She had trained Sakura to use poison. Just because she hadn't used it against Neji didn't mean she wouldn't use it against Shikamaru.

Shikamaru twitched down in the arena. "It's not that bad." He answered Sakura's question.

"But it's starting to. And if you continue to burn your chakra as you have up till now... it's going to get worse fast. If you try to catch me without your shadows... well, it's also gonna get worse. And I only had the one portion of antidote on me." Sakura grinned wickedly. "It's gonna take a while for it to work as well.

She winced as she pulled out two kunai and closed her fists around them.

"And... nghh... as much as this hurts. It won't slow me down nearly half as much as the poison will slow down you." She grimaced, a perfect mirror of Shikamaru as the first pang of pain made itself know.

"He's got a lot more of it than she had the first time." Anko said suddenly.

Asuma looked worriedly at her. "That's bad isn't it?"

Anko grinned weakly at him. "Not exactly... if he gets the antidote fast? No it's not. If he gets it now, without moving around a lot... well, he'll be alright in half an hour."

She took a deep breath. "If he gets it after ten more minutes of fighting he'll be out of it for a day... and if he doesn't get it at all... well he'll probably be out of commission for a month..."

She laughed uneasily.

Asuma glared at her. "What have you been teaching her?" He asked, his voice wavering dangerously.

"Hey, I never said she should use it on Konoha nin!" Anko tried to defend herself.

"I bet you never said not to either." Asuma accused her, correctly.

"Ehehehe..." Anko chuckled. "Let's hope he does the smart thing then yes?"

Shikamaru glared at Sakura, and suddenly accelerated. Sakura on the other hand leaped backwards, away from him. Her wires had been discarded, to avoid him trapping her again.

She grinned as she led him around the arena, or she grinned as often as she winced.

Shikamaru for his part winced far more often and it appeared he only got worse. Five minutes after the chase started it ended already. "I give." He groaned. "Just get me the antidote."

A wave of pain seemed to crash through him, as he shuddered violently.

Sakura nodded and, after getting a nod from Genma gave a sign to Sasuke, who appeared on her side with a small bottle. She took it and gently fed it to Shikamaru.

Anko couldn't hear what she said, but assumed it would be something about how soon the pain would stop.

"Well, that was that." She smirked at Asuma. "My student won."

Kakashi coughed. "Fine our student won." Anko corrected herself.

Asuma sighed. "It was totally unfair. She had three teachers. Shikamaru had one."

"You could have asked Kurenai to help you." Anko pointed out totally reasonably.

"Anko, I had my own students!" Kurenai admonished her.

"I'm sure they wouldn't have minded." Anko waved her off.

Several medics led Sakura and Shikamaru away.

"Well then." Jirayia said, looking into the arena. "Now it's Sasuke against Gaara. What do you think Kakashi, does he stand a chance?"

All eyes moved to Kakashi, who looked at his student with an unreadable expression. Anko didn't feel much confidence either. Sasuke had proven to be good. Very good indeed. But good enough to beat a jinchuriki?

"I think... he has a chance." Kakashi said finally, as Sasuke made his way into the arena.

"A small one..." he added worriedly.

-o-

Ino walked beside Sakura and Shikamaru, as the medics led them into the bowels of the stadium.

"Geez forehead, did you have to use that poison on him?" She asked her friend angrily. Worriedly she watched over Shikamaru.

He grimaced, even in his sleep.

"He'll be fine." Sakura said quietly.

Good, she should feel a bit guilty.

"By tonight he'll have totally recovered." Sakura added, though not without a look at the medics, Ino noted.

But the medic smiled and nodded. "If you did use the poison you said you used, he should be fine by then. In a few hours he should be able to walk again anyway. The dose is a bit higher than usual, since you managed to nick him a few times. But nothing to worry about."

Ino grumbled at that, but she figured Sakura wanted to win and Shika should have done his research a bit better. Not as if he didn't know he could come up against Sakura.

"I suppose I can't blame you forehead." Ino allowed graciously.

"Damn straight you can't piggy." Sakura growled, holding out her hands for the medic to look at.

"Hey, did I poison your teammates?" Ino asked. A bit more humility would be good for the girl. Lately she got a bit too full of herself.

"No, but you didn't fight them either. So you didn't have the chance yet piggy." Sakura countered, which would be a good point, if it weren't for one fact. "I wouldn't poison them anyway." Ino said evenly.

"Only because you don't have any poisons on you." Sakura pointed out smugly.

Ino coughed into her hand. That would be the fact, yes.

"See, you totally would if given the chance." Sakura smirked.

"Fine fine. Still, why didn't you use it against Neji?" She asked, ignoring the amused smile the medic displayed as he did whatever a medic did to wounds.

Sakura looked at her flatly. "Because I needed the ace against Shikamaru duh."

"You might have gone up against Naruto as well." Ino countered.

"Well yeah, and because I have no idea if it would even work against Gaara I didn't bother keeping it hidden now, since Sasuke would know about it as well. The ace just isn't useful enough in the next battle to keep it secret anymore. Thus I used it against Shikamaru." Sakura lectured her haughtily.

"All I heard was bla bla bla I'm so superior bla bla bla. Are you sure you haven't been adopted by the Hyuga?" Ino needled Sakura, a big grin on her face.

Sakura blanched. "Oh god, don't even joke about that... you know? I'm not sure who to feel sorry for more. Naruto, if he marries into that clan, or the clan itself for having to deal with Naruto on a 24 hour basis."

The medic snorted and both girls could watch him valiantly suppressing the belly laugh they just knew he wanted to let loose.

Sakura looked at her hands, at least he had finished before he broke into laughter and potentially ruined them forever.

She shuddered. "Anyway, when will he wake up?" She asked the man.

"Hehehe..." He sniggered, fighting for control. "I... hehe... think he'll be up in an hour or so. You have time to watch the match... really, Uzumaki married into the Hyuga clan?"

The medic shook his head, only to stop when he noticed the glare Sakura send at him. Ino glared a bit herself. Naruto wasn't a bad guy after all. Kinda funny actually and kinda sweet. Even if he was a total idiot.

"Is there a problem with that?" Sakura growled.

The man laughed again, this time nervously. "Err... no, of course not. But well, they do kinda have a stick shoved up their asses... so a d... err a troublemaker like Naruto..." Wow, Sakura's glare could send somebody into a gibbering mass on the floor.

Not that Ino couldn't duplicate the feat. But Sakura made it look so natural.

"Soo, I take it your goal in life is to become an evil psycho like Anko?" Ino asked innocently.

"Anko?" The medic twitched fearfully.

Sakura looked down at him, eyes narrowed and a small, Anko like smile on her lips.

The medic took one look at her and shied away, apparently the ceiling looked pretty interesting at the moment.

"Well, she is my teacher." Sakura said. "And she is all kinds of cool... if pretty sadistic."

Ino grinned, as the medic slowly inched away from Sakura. "Oh god, please, please don't let them lead Anko here. I haven't recovered from last time yet."

Ino blinked... if you were afraid, why would you smile like that? Kinda as if you wanted to be found.

"Though last time was pretty fun. I mean I'll probably die, but damn if it wouldn't be worth it..." The man seemed lost to the world as he slipped into whatever fantasy Anko's name evoked in him. Ino didn't really want to know anymore.

"Let's go, before we get any detail." She said to a disgusted Sakura.

"Yeah, I so don't need to get any details on Anko's love life. I shudder to think what's involved there."

-o-

Sasuke looked at the boy in front of him. Gaara had recovered, for the most part, but the fear and uncertainty he still felt, expressed itself in an even greater blood lust.

Glaring at Tenten, Sasuke swore he would have to "thank" her for making this battle more difficult than it had to be. What had Sasuke ever done to her anyway?

Then again... maybe it had more to do with what he hadn't...

He sighed, Sakura and Ino were corrupting him, leading him away from the path of the avenger onto the path of the... huh, what path were they leading him to. He looked at the ground, thinking.

They...

"Are you ready Sasuke?" The referee asked.

Sasuke blinked and nodded. Later, he would think about it later. Now he had to fight, he smirked at Gaara, a very irritated opponent.

"Yeah, sure. Let's get this over with. I have some important stuff to think about." Ahh, casual dis-mission, the easiest way to irritate your opponent.

"I'll kill you." Gaara calmly stated, not in the shaking voice of burning rage, but the cold anger that Sasuke felt whenever he thought of Itachi... no actually Itachi brought out the white hot rage.

"No, you won't." Sasuke shrugged. He didn't worry about this fight. His chances for chunin weren't so bad. He beat Lee easily enough, ridiculously easy actually. Which should improve his chances for promotion... or not, seeing as he didn't show anything beside his ability to mess with peoples perception.

He sighed, against Gaara that wouldn't fly sadly. Hopefully he found another way to breach his armor.

Tenten had shown him one way, but he only had around ten explosive notes. Not nearly enough to hunt Gaara with, as Tenten had shown when she ran out of ammo.

Hunt or hurt?

He would have to make every single note count.

"Begin!" The referee shouted and Sasuke's sharingan sprang into action.

The sand immediately shot for him, much too slow though and with Gaara already trapped in his genjutsu Sasuke didn't worry too much about him actually being captured.

Still, better be careful.

Sasuke, with a few more seals four Sasuke's stood in the arena. Three attacked immediately one staying back. Gaara's sand went for the one in the back. As expected. Though more than enough sand stayed behind to protect him.

Sasuke smirked as he dodged and weaved around the sand. Duplication, not just of the person but also of the equipment was one, if not the, greatest strength the shadowclone had. Naruto hadn't realized that one yet. And even with that strength, the more specialized, the more complicated an item, the more chakra would be needed to make it anywhere as powerful as the original item.

For explosive notes it meant you would have to pump as much chakra as the entire clone cost you into one, for it to explode with the same force as the original.

But he didn't need that anyway. So, when the clone threw the note and it exploded against Gaara's shield, with barely a scratch Sasuke didn't curse. He had expected it after all.

Gaara however whirled stopped hunting him, and focused on his clone. He had assumed it to be a normal bunshin. Now it had been elevated to actual threat.

Sasuke used the lapse of attention to disappear, he didn't want to face Gaara out in the open.

Gaara looked in his direction again and Sasuke grinned as he planted a little voice in Gaara's ears.

Why did he think the sharingan would be the most powerful as a tool to copy movement and jutsu?

Itachi didn't really use it for that either. Genjutsu, that's where it shone.

And if Gaara did have a demon inside him, then it would be time to see just how they interacted.

What Naruto told them about his interaction with the fox would serve as a nice baseline.

-o-

"Hmm pathetic. Can't even catch that one pesky human." A voice whispered in his ear. It felt deep and resonated through him.

Gaara didn't stop hunting the damn clone. He would destroy it, then focus on the real one.

Still the new voice, bothered him, he hadn't heard it before. Were did it come from?

"Ohh, he got away again. Slippery bastard isn't he?" The voice asked, softly seductively.

"Shut up." Gaara said dangerously. Not that he expected the voice to listen. The demon certainly never did.

"Do you want my power?" The voice asked slowly seductively. Gaara only sneered. He had to assume the original somehow tried to manipulate him. A weak attempt at best.

"I know the demon, and your attempts to impersonate him... are feeble at best." He shouted into the arena. And he didn't care that it revealed that he had a demon. After all Konoha already knew anyway. No point in hiding it.

"Genjutsu won't save you." He shouted and grinned as he finally caught the clone and swiftly crushed it.

-o-

Sasuke winced, as his clone lost his life in a briefly painful manner.

His little impersonation had also failed, but that didn't bother him much. Gaara might say genjutsu wouldn't save Sasuke. But he had proven that he himself could only detect them if they were very obvious. Like a new voice springing up and probably acting entirely different than the real demon.

This would give Sasuke plenty of opportunities to mess with him. But first, let's try playing with knifes.

Once again he waited for an opportunity to capture Gaara's eyes. Easily done, the way he swept the arena, heedless of anybody hiding, just waiting for an opportunity to ensnare him.

And suddenly Gaara found several kunai fly at him from his back. He whirled around and sent several waves of sand at the trees from which the kunai came.

Sadly his shield didn't react to the illusionary kunai.

Gaara ripped his arms up, as his shield failed. Sasuke couldn't see his eyes. But they must have been wide in panic. Not every day that your defense apparently abandoned you after all.

Still, he hadn't bothered to give the illusion of pain on hit, and now Gaara stood there wondering why the knifes had disappeared. He slowly turned around, staring around the arena distrustfully.

Sasuke smirked as he caught the eyes again and slowly made his way around, to the trees just buried under a wave of sand. Directly under Gaara's eyes.

Truly genjutsu was the king of jutsu.

He reached the pitiful remains and hid there, then waited for Gaara to make his move.

Sasuke's little stunt had given him a few laughs, as watching Gaara stare directly at him, but doing nothing must have been very funny from the ranks.

And the laughs led to Gaara being rather rattled. Moving that openly wouldn't have worked against Sakura or Shikamaru. Hell it probably wouldn't have worked against any opponent but Gaara. They would have focused on the spectators and realized where Sasuke was, if not by exactly, they could guess by the direction the spectators were looking.

But Gaara focused on his enemy to the exclusion of everything else. A bloodhound in a way. Good for one task, but not much else.

Sasuke felt himself reminded uncomfortably of himself, but pushed those thoughts down. He had a fight to win.

And he still had no idea how to do it.

He caught Gaara's eyes again and send illusionary kunai at him again. This time not from his back, but from his side, from an open empty area. That should ramp his paranoia up quite nicely.

Once again the shield failed to materialize. But this time, the kunai did cause him pain. Or appeared to at least.

Gaara screamed, as the weapons seemed to ignore his defenses entirely.

He stared at his arms, whole and unblemished.

Sasuke could detect a slight twitch. But Gaara managed to get himself under control quickly.

However his movement had gotten more erratic, he quickly moved around, trying to watch every part of the arena at once.

Well, if his way to victory hadn't just presented itself. Sasuke had to be blind not to see the opportunities.

He caught Gaara's eyes again.

-o-

Gaara whirled around. He couldn't make out his enemy. He used genjutsu and Gaara had never had to fight against genjutsu. It hadn't ever been anything he needed to fight. He just squashed the user before he could employ them against Gaara.

But now, that last kunai had actually hurt! And his shield couldn't function against them, since they weren't even real to begin with.

Luckily the pain disappeared almost as soon as he felt it. The most obvious disadvantage of genjutsu. You couldn't inflict pain. Why bother using them then?

Gaara had never understood it. They were only useful as a distraction, nothing else. And while this pesky annoyance might proof to be something more than a distraction, it wouldn't safe him.

Another kunai flew his way. He took a deep breath and it bypassed his defenses, just as he had expected. The brief flash of pain that accompanied it had been expected as well.

He grimaced, this felt worse than the pain he had experienced under the bombardment of explosive notes form the girl.

At least his shield had provided some protection. Now the kunai could hit him utterly unimpeded and it hurt, briefly sure, but it hurt!

"Come out!" he roared, though with little hope that the other boy would comply.

He seemed to like hiding too much. "Coward!" He shouted in a feeble attempt.

But as expected the arena stayed silent. More kunai flew his way, he growled impotently, he could try dodging. But somehow he doubted it would succeed.

Still, he threw himself to one side and miraculously the kunai missed.

He followed their path, until they evaporated into thin air.

Why? Why did they miss? He could have made them follow him...

More kunai appeared, seemingly out of nowhere. Gaara dodged again, and again the kunai missed him.

He narrowed his eyes, maybe?

The next time he intercepted them with his sand.

And they stuck, he could feel the impact on the sand, the same as if they were real.

Had they been real? But what about his defense then?

In front of his eyes the kunai evaporated. Not real then, he looked around, for any sign of his opponent.

Again several kunai flew his way. Again his defense didn't spring to action.

He growled as he forced it into place once more, barely managing to intercept the knifes.

He looked down, expecting them to disappear again. Instead half of them remained.

He could feel his left eye twitching, his breathing accelerated. How? How had his defense missed those? If he hadn't...

He took a deep breath this had to be.

Quickly he ripped his arms up, commanding the sand to protect him from even more knifes. Almost from every direction this time. Once the sand disappeared only four knifes remained, in addition to those from before.

"Not bad." Somebody said, probably his opponent. "But, how long can you keep this up?"

Gaara growled. "Longer than you. That genjutsu will take a lot out of you."

"Maybe, but not nearly as much as you seem to think." The voice answered.

-o-

Temari bit her lip as she watched her brother move frantically. He summoned defenses consciously now, and fast. Almost as fast as his instinctive response came. And she feared she had seen through Sasuke's tactic. Once Gaara moved as fast as the automatic response, Sasuke would be able to attack for real, and Gaara wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

Once that happened... Worst of all Sasuke had already begun his preparation for the ploy. Around Gaara's feet lay kunai, thrown there with expert precision.

They hadn't been intended to hit him, just to make the illusion more real.

"What is he doing? Uchiha hasn't even tried to hit him yet." Kankuro muttered, once again oblivious.

"This is dangerous." Baki said. "If he manages to break Gaara's trust in his shield... "

"He might make Gaara create an opening." Temari finished. And as she watched she could see it happening.

Gaara started to protect one flank, but switched quickly to another.

She grimaced. "Damn the brat is good."

Baki nodded. "Hopefully he won't breach Gaara's last defense."

-o-

Sasuke smirked as he watched Gaara move after his illusion kunai. Soon, he would only have to push a little bit more.

Some kunai held flaws now, tiny ones almost imperceptible. Unless you were watching for them. And only those kunai left real one's behind.

Gaara had begun to focus exclusively on them. Sasuke just wished he could test his reaction with an actual kunai. But the conditioning he just did wouldn't hold long, maybe even just once. He couldn't afford to test the results. He would have to trust his instincts.

He continued his game a few more minutes, sweat slowly trickled down his face. He had never before created a illusion quite like this. Every time Gaara looked in his direction Sasuke renewed the genjutsu hiding him from Gaara and send more and more knifes at Gaara.

If this had been a normal genjustsu he wouldn't have used much chakra, but with using the sharingan, bypassing years of learning the subtleties, he sadly wasted ridiculous amounts of chakra on it.

And so he had to move this up, faster and faster. Luckily Gaara complied easily, still he would have to move fast.

He took a deep breath and readied several explosive kunai.

Only once chance, with a lot of luck two. But he couldn't count on it. He wouldn't allow himself to count on it.

He threw the first kunai, hidden behind a perfect illusion of a normal kunai. Almost immediately afterward he send the illusion of a slightly flawed kunai at Gaara. If everything went as planned... Sasuke narrowed his eyes and held his breath.

"Come on!" He whisper, to himself.

As expected Gaara moved almost faster than his instinct, and then, then he moved the sand to intercept the "real" kunai, stripping his own instinctive defense away in favor of a false threat.

Sasuke wanted to shout, but he managed to restrain himself. No point in giving his position away yet.

The kunai stuck Gaara, who whipped his head into his side, staring in disbelieve at the kunai sticking out of his skin. Or armor of sand, it slowly, ever so slowly worked itself out of his skin.

Sasuke smirked. "Much too slow." He whispered again.

And the kunai exploded, sending sand and blood flying into the arena.

Sasuke winced, he hadn't expected that much damage, but maybe the last layer of defense simply lacked the protection of the shield.

He watched the cloud of smoke and debris anxiously. Hopefully Gaara had at least survived. He didn't want to kill anybody pointlessly. He wouldn't be his brother.

As soon as the smoke cleared he breathed a sigh of relief. Gaara actually still stood, staring in utter horror at his arm, which had a good chunk blown out, but nowhere near as bad as Sasuke feared. With a good medic the arm would be good as new in a few months. Or at least Sasuke desperately hoped it would be as good as new in a few months.

"Guh... guh... GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Gaara screamed, his eyes fixated on his arm.

Sasuke winced, this seemed kinda bad really. But for now he wouldn't, couldn't come out of hiding.

-o-

Sakura grimaced, Naruto noticed. Hell everybody present grimaced. That wound looked rather nasty and once the battle finished Naruto would have some harsh words for Sasuke.

"Are you alright?" He asked Hinata. She had hidden her face in his chest, as soon as she saw Gaara's rather horrible wound.

"I'm... I'm..." came the muffled response. Naruto took it for a no.

"Shit, I mean, yeah... well... I don't know." Sakura muttered. Ino nodded in silent agreement.

"Damn. Kinda glad I don't have to fight down there now." Kiba muttered. Akamaru whined in agreement.

"Did he really have to do that?" Kiba added.

Sakura watched the screaming Gaara and nodded slowly. "I don't see many alternatives honestly. You saw how the kunai stuck to Gaara, even after Sasuke managed to breach his first defense. Without the explosion it wouldn't even have hurt him."

"Still, that was brutal." Kiba looked decidedly green around the gills.

Naruto wondered how he looked, probably not much better. And he kinda felt for Gaara. If his childhood had been anything like Naruto's...

Still, they ran that risk when they entered into the tournament. And Gaara should be able to recover.

Naruto could already see the flesh mending... flesh mending?

He gulped, as the sand form the arena pulsed and moved towards the wound.

"Uh oh." He muttered.

"Uh oh?" Kiba repeated. "I don't like the sound of that."

"You shouldn't." Sakura agreed. "If I'm right then..." She blinked, Kakashi had just used a genjutsu deflection technique?

She quickly copied him. "Genjutsu, deflect it!" She shouted, hoping that at least some of her classmates could use the technique.

-o-

"This is bad." Baki muttered as he watched the sand form into Shukaku's arm, around Gaara's wound.

"Bad? This entire operation had gone completely out of control. Gaara has been beaten by some random genin! And the nine tails hasn't even made an appearance yet." Temari growled. As quietly as she could.

Kankuro sighed. "Damn, I think that was one shock too many. I'm not afraid of Gaara anymore..."

"He's transforming." Temari pointed out calmly.

"Oh hey, the fear is back." Kankuro twitched.

Suddenly another Kunai slammed into Gaara. "No way..." Temari whispered. Who would be insane enough to try and attack Gaara now?

The half way formed arm exploded again and the explosion threw Gaara into the ground.

"Horrible timing." Baki cursed.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Temari really didn't need any more on her plate.

"Kabuto has started, but... with Gaara the way he is..." Baki looked down into the arena.

With his transformation interrupted Gaara could only shake weakly on the floor.

"Damn. We are aborting the mission. You two, get Gaara out of here. I'll cover your escape." Baki shouted and jumped down.

"You heard him sis. At least we might just avoid getting into real trouble here." Kankuro said quickly before following the older man.

Temari sighed, just her luck, her worst fears proved true, since nobody had bothered to listen to the genin...

-o-

Sasuke stared at Gaara, he didn't move much, just some feeble twitches, after Sasuke had blown off his arm. But somehow his wound had disappeared, not that Sasuke minded all that much. Killing or crippling somebody could wait a tiny bit in his opinion. Though he would make an exception for Itachi.

Suddenly the other members of Gaara's team appeared.

"Hurry!" Their teacher shouted at them and they grabbed Gaara and disappeared up, over the stadium wall.

"What the hell is going on?" Sasuke asked nobody in particular. He looked around quickly and noticed that most people in the ranks appeared to be unconscious... most people, unless they happened to be foreign nin.

"The exams are over." The referee said causally. Almost too causal, for Sasuke's tastes.

"Make yourself useful, go pursue Gaara." He added, as he smirked at Baki.

Sasuke stared at him, was that guy insane? If this had turned into a real battle then Gaara would almost certainly unleash the one tails...

"So just to make sure I've understood you correctly... you are ordering me to follow the jinchuriki of the one tailed demon yes?" Sasuke asked queasily. This wasn't a battle he felt prepared for. Here in the arena he had counted on Gaara's restrain. Out there...

"Yes. Now move!" The referee shouted, his attention focused on the sand guy.

Sasuke sighed, just his luck. Hopefully his team would catch up as soon as they noticed he had disappeared.

And with a long jump he followed Gaara.

-o-

Genma grinned at the asshole from sand in front of him. The bastard would pay for trying to invade...

"Did you really just order one of your genin to hunt down a jinchuriki." The asshole asked, but Genma wouldn't let idle banter... distract...

"Shit." He cursed, wait... how had Sasuke known about that?

"Hehehe, seems like the leaf are bigger fools than I thought." The sand guy sneered.

Ok a quick comeback obviously needed to be found and fast. "Eh, he's the teammate of our demon. He'll have no problem beating Gaara into a bloody mess."

Yeah, that sounded right. No need to mention that Konoha's demon's worst act of murder had been the destruction of the chunin coffee machine... and he would one day pay for that crime, oh yes he would.

The sand bastard looked at the stands. "The girl?" He asked in surprise.

"Err... no the blond guy, how do you think he made all those shadowclones?" Really Haruno might have some talent, but she lacked any real power.

"Him..." The sand looser stared at Genma unbelieving... which Genma could understand, but it also provided him with a nice opening and waste not want not had been an important concept during his upbringing. So he attacked, any more words would be a waste anyway.

-o-

Kakashi watched the stadium devolve into chaos around him and a lot of enemy nin suddenly seemed to appear out of thin air.

He smirked as quite a few Anbu appeared as well. Still, there were far more forces here than he expected. Some of which apparently decided to target his cute genin.

And here he stood too far away to do something about it. He jumped forward, he wouldn't loose somebody else, he wouldn't...

Sakura whirled around, her wires out already and whipped them into her attackers, who might have been prepared for a kunai, but not for the wires coiling around them.

They fell right in front of Sakura, who quickly slammed two more kunai into their heads.

Kakashi winced, he should have expected it after the forest, but he had still hoped...

He moved a little bit faster and appeared behind Sakura, just in time to ram a kunai into the face of another attacker.

"Sorry I'm late." he muttered, almost whispered.

"Not your fault." Sakura answered in that cold monotone she had right after the forest. "I'll just add those faces to my nightmares, shouldn't be a problem."

Ouch, she sure knew how to go for the throat.

He looked around, it seemed Gai's genin had managed to stave off the genjutsu, and Ino... puked her guts out after apparently watching Sakura kill those two guys.

"Ugh." she spat after she finished. "I'll add that to my nightmare too... damn it."

Sakura twitched, but her mask held.

"Where's Sasuke?" She asked as she shook Naruto and Hinata awake.

Kakashi could see Kurenai, Asuma and Anko defend themselves against several sound nin. Jirayia had disappeared, but that could mean a thousand things.

On the roof of a nearby building a barrier had sprung up... damn, he had no idea what was going on...

Luckily he had an idea of how to keep his genin out of the worst of it.

"Sakura! Get Naruto and Ino and follow Sasuke." He said calmly to them.

"Huh?" Naruto asked confused. But, if they wanted to have a chance, if Sasuke somehow had caught up to Gaara, they would need Naruto.

Sakura glared at him. "I'm taking all the genin with me." She answered, in direct defiance to his orders.

"Sakura a small four man team..." He tried to reason with her.

"Is faster and can stay hidden better yeah. But do you really think those are priorities here?" She challenged him.

But she was also right. In this chaos staying hidden would be difficult even as a four man team. And with the number of enemy nin in the village... it would also get more genin out of the worst of the fighting.

"Ok, fine. You're right." He bit his thumb and slammed his hands into the ground.

He watched Ino and Sakura release the genin that hadn't reacted fast enough to stave off the genjutsu. Only Kiba and Choji had fallen for it.

"And here's your tracker." Kakashi said proudly, as Pakkun appeared before them.

"Hey what about Akamaru?" Kiba glared at him.

Kakashi grinned back. "Too inexperienced sorry." Pakkun would also try to keep the kids out of trouble.

Another nin decided to crash the party, but Gai not only took care of that, he also opened a convenient escape route.

"My genin and me will keep the rest of the rabble here. So don't worry about a thing." He grinned at the assembled genin and waved them away.

"Alright." Sakura nodded.

"You have leadership for now Sakura. Be careful." Kakashi shouted after her. Hopefully they all made it through this in one piece.

-o-

And here's chapter eleven.

Thanks to Zuzack for betaing.


	12. Desperate Assault

Expectations of Development

-o-

Desperate Assault

-o-

Ino followed in Sakura's shadow, as she charged through the woods, following the directions of the little dog. Her stomach still felt kinda queasy, but Ino could deal with that. How did Sakura feel about killing those guys? She certainly hadn't liked killing the other genin.

Still she shook her head. She had other things to worry about. Like the fact that they were currently running after a demon, sealed into a madman. Fun.

Hopefully they would reach Sasuke before he caught up and could get into a fight with Gaara.

"Hinata!" Sakura suddenly spoke up, still with the same cold voice she had taken on after she killed those guys. "Keep a lookout for any pursuers." She ordered. "Kiba, the same goes for you and Akamaru. Pakkun, just focus on Sasuke for now."

"Ye- ye- yes." Hinata stuttered. Damn, Ino had really hoped she would get over her anxieties once she got together with Naruto. But that would have been too easy wouldn't it?

"No problem." Kiba replied much more confident.

Sakura nodded sharply and glanced at Naruto. Ino narrowed her eyes, what had that been about?

"Naruto... you should tell them. We might need you if Sasuke caught up." She said finally, though her voice had some emotion in it again.

The boy in question glanced back uneasily. What did he have to tell them?

"Are you sure? I mean..." He said, quite definitely afraid of telling them whatever.

"They need to be prepared." Sakura pointed out to him. What could they be talking about? And why would Naruto of all people be important in the battle against Gaara?

"Naruto?" Hinata asked, looking at him in confusion.

A glance back at Hinata and Naruto fixed his face firmly on the front.

"I have no idea what's going on, but now I sure want to know." Kiba spoke up. Choji and Shino nodded. Ino could feel her own head bobbing up and down as well.

"Yeah, come on Naruto, if it's important we need to know."

Sakura herself kept quite, leaving the decision to Naruto, who seemed to debate it with himself. He took a deep breath, visible even from behind him, so he had decided to tell them.

"Well, you know that Gaara is a demon container right?" He asked.

Kiba, Shino and Hinata obviously hadn't know. And damn, she forget to tell Choji about it as well. Nothing to do about it now though, beside helping out Naruto on his explanation of course.

"Yes, Sakura told me and Tenten about it." She agreed with Naruto, earning herself a hurt look from Choji, so what if she didn't tell him and Shika about it? It hadn't been important! Who could have guessed that sand planned to invade Konoha?

Naruto nodded quietly, clearly ignoring the shocked and fearful exclamations behind him. But why would he be important in fighting Gaara then... Ino gasped, no way!

"Well, I... I'm kinda... a demon container as well." Naruto whispered, Ino had to strain to hear him. Though she could hear Hinata, Kiba and Choji gasp as well. Shino she noticed didn't, he probably had gotten it as well. If the others didn't just gasp to make their shock air.

She noticed them slowing down.

"Wha... what?" Hinata gasped, shocked. Ouch Naruto flinched at that. Ino wondered why she took it so calmly herself. She should be as shocked as Hinata, but she felt... numb, that would be the words.

"Keep moving!" Sakura snapped at them. "And Hinata, focus on our rear I don't want any surprises."

Hinata quick activated her byankuan again, no hesitation this time Ino noted surprised. Other things on her mind probably.

"What? What does that mean?" Kiba asked, quite visibly shaken by the revelation that Naruto was, no carried a demon around with him, just like Gaara... but yeah, what did that mean anyway? Sakura had been rather vague about that.

"It means I can kinda use the demon's power if I concentrate, Gaara can too... we get more powerful that way... we also have more chakra. And Gaara has his control over sand." Naruto answered, somewhat hesitantly.

"Uhh... that's not too bad I suppose... but what kind of demon is trapped inside of you... and why?" Kiba continued his questioning.

Though, judging by the shaking of his hands he had a good idea.

This time Sakura spoke up. "Apparently the fourth could only seal the Kyuubi, not kill it. But that's good, means we have nine tails to Gaara's one tail."

The Kyuubi! Sealed in Naruto! Oh god, oh god, oh god! What the hell!

"Eeep!" Hinata squealed in fright. Kiba and Choji didn't react much different, she felt like screaming herself.

"I see, that would explain your ability to use those shadowclones of yours so readily." Shino observed blandly.

Naruto stumbled for a second, then move smoothly again.

"Damn it people I keep telling you to keep moving. No slowing down here!" Sakura hissed angrily.

"Yeah, well. Maybe if you didn't pull those revelations on us in the middle of an invasion we might react calmer to it!" Ino shouted back. She could hear Kiba grunt in agreement.

"Would you prefer we revealed that in the middle of the fight with Gaara?" Sakura countered.

Ino could see Hinata pull herself together beside her. "Umm... Naruto?" She asked, without a hint of a stutter. Naruto flinched anyway. Even though Hinata's voice didn't hold any hint of anger of disapproval. "The... the demon?" And her stutter came back... though whether that should be attributed to her anxiety around Naruto or the fact that she talked about the freaking Kyuubi, Ino couldn't say for sure.

"Yes?" Naruto asked dejectedly.

"It, it's just sealed up in you right?" Hinata asked, almost desperately. "I mean, you aren't the demon right?" Wow, lot's of fear there. Not that Ino wouldn't feel that if Sasuke turned out to have a demon sealed in him. Who would like to hear that?

"No!" Naruto shouted back emphatically. "The demon's just sealed in me, just like in Gaara. I dunno why Gaara acts the way he does. But I'm not the demon!" He shouted that back angrily.

Hinata shrank back, but a second later her face scrunched up in determination and she pulled ahead and grasped Naruto's hand. "I believe you." She said as Naruto turned around and looked at her in wonder.

Sakura glanced back as well, but she didn't focus on them, instead she looked behind them anxiously.

Kiba shook his head. "Well, that's... a bit hard to swallow." He muttered. "Still you are way too much of an idiot to be the Kyuubi, so whatever."

Naruto glared back at him, then at Sakura. Apparently he had heard that line before.

"Ok, now that that's all sorted. Hinata I want eyes behind us!" Sakura glared at the girl.

Hinata nodded quickly and let go of Naruto's hand, focusing her attention on the back. Ino focused on Sakura again and decided to ignore the revelation for now. They had more important things to worry about.

Hinata's sudden gasp for example.

"We're being followed!" She whispered. Ino had trouble even hearing her.

"How many?" Sakura asked anxiously.

"Around nine... I think." Hinata answered carefully. "I'm not quite as good as Neji. Sorry." She whispered.

"You're doing great Hinata." Naruto immediately came to defend her from herself.

A small smile replaced the uncertain expression on her face and she focused on the pursuers again.

They traveled in silence for a few seconds, giving Hinata another opportunity to count their adversaries.

"They are ten." She finally said. "One is following a bit behind the others. Covering them."

Sakura nodded. "Naruto, send some clones ahead to help Sasuke and inform him we are on our way. If he manages to catch up, he's only to delay them! Nothing else! Disengage if he can do so. If they are fleeing there's no need to get into a fight with them."

Ino could wholeheartedly agree with that. She didn't want to fight with Gaara.

Naruto didn't bother nodding, he simply created a few clones and send them on ahead. They took off with a surprising amount of speed. Ino frowned, she could move a bit faster, but this had been a slightly taxing speed already. Who held them back?

"We'll lay an ambush for our pursuers, Naruto's going to distract them with a few more shadowclones." Sakura quickly added.

"We can keep them off your back. You guys just catch up to Sasuke." Kiba grunted, but Sakura shook her head.

"He can take care of himself for a few minutes. I'm not risking anybody here, especially not a small group of you, for one genin. The entire group stared at her, to dismiss Sasuke so causally... but Ino could guess form Sakura's expression what happened. She had switched off her emotions, whether consciously or unconsciously. Ino couldn't say, but Sakura as she was now, simply didn't listen to her heart.

Ino blanched, she just knew this would end in another drunken night. She frowned, she would have to stop Sakura from relying on alcohol to deal with her guilt.

"And we can deal with this faster as a group anyway." She added. "So if necessary we can all come to his aid instead of split into two groups, one of which arrives not only late but also beat up."

She had slowed them down considerably too and Ino realized that Sakura had set the speed at which they traveled. She wondered why they didn't move faster, all of them could... but they would be tired, a disadvantage in a fight.

"How far are they away Hinata?" Sakura asked.

"They are nearly here."

Sakura took a deep breath and nodded. "Alright, on my signal Naruto creates the clones, and we stop. Hopefully they'll follow the clones and we get a free shot. If not... just crush them with everything you got. We might be fewer than them... but we are much better than them."

Ino wondered if she actually believed that. Or if she just said it to make them believe it. Not that it mattered, if she was wrong they would all die anyway, so better hope she was right.

-o-

Sakura glanced back at her team and took a deep breath. Hopefully she made the right decision. But she wouldn't risk anybody from this team, just because Sasuke might be in trouble. He had more than enough brains to keep out of trouble. And if he died... well, she bet there were some jutsu to bring the dead back... and then she would kill him again for dieing.

Everybody seemed ready, Hinata even seemed to be over her nervousness, good. They would need to move fast. She grasped her wires. Only a few left and she would need some to fight Gaara as well... she pulled two over her fingers. Only two more enemies than they were. Naruto himself could probably beat them easily. But together they could utterly crush them and move on.

She held her hand up and quickly moved it down again.

Naruto created his clones, just as the rest of her group moved away and into the trees. Pakkun hadn't said a word throughout the entire discussion. He had just kept leading her, shooting curious glances back, every so often.

They had spread out, hidden behind trees. Sakura didn't know how the others felt, but she felt... calm again, she had felt the same since she killed those sound nin in the arena. She didn't like this, but it did allow her to focus on the mission, so she wouldn't complain too loudly.

She could hear the enemy nin now. They weren't loud, but you couldn't hide nine men waltzing through the forest. And there they were. They didn't even bother stopping, so intent were they at catching their prey. And then Kiba shot out and Sakura winced. She had forgotten to plan what to do after they had them in an ambush position. Oh well, only one thing left to do, attack.

Naruto had reacted faster than her, or he simply had planned to jump out anyway. Several clones swamped the surprised enemies, even as Kiba crashed into his first target. They didn't even have time to react to him Sakura noted with grim satisfaction.

She saw Ino jump behind one of them and switch into him. He promptly attacked the others, throwing the confused mass into even more chaos. Choji quickly went to protect Ino's body.

Hinata held back, glancing at Sakura. She signaled her to stay hidden and wait for the last one.

Sakura only waited for Hinata to nod in confirmation before she finally joined the fray with Shino. He had send his bugs against two of them, and they were desperately trying to get rid of them. Ino had taken two more out of the equation, and Naruto kept the others busy.

She grinned blandly as she threw her kunai at two of Naruto's victims, destroying several of his clones in the process, but they had done this a few times before, so she didn't worry about hitting him. A quick pull on the wires bound her targets up, and she quickly moved in for the kill, two more kunai drawn.

Suddenly she felt a presence behind her, but she couldn't react nearly fast enough, so she didn't even bother turning around. Instead she rammed her kunai down on the head of her first target. Blunt side first. They might have needed information after all. And she really didn't want to kill anybody again.

She expected a blow in her back to end her own life. But nothing came. She glanced back in surprise, Hinata stood there Sakura's attacker at her feet. She looked just as surprised as Sakura felt.

Sakura quickly finished off her other target, then grinned at Hinata. "Thanks."

Hinata nodded in response, still looking as if she couldn't quite believe it.

A quick look around confirmed that all enemy ninja had been taken out of the battle. Ino had already returned to her own body and Kiba kicked his opponent in the ribs for good measure.

"Naruto have your clones secure them. We're moving on. Quickly." She didn't wait for their nods. She simply moved out again. The battle hadn't even taken 30 seconds. But still, they had to slow down and wait for them. Which had cost them maybe two minutes. They would need to push a bit harder to make up for the time they wasted here.

And so she moved just a bit faster, nobody should have any problems keeping up with them.

"How much did Sasuke gain?" She asked Pakkun.

The dog looked up to her, she thought she could see a grin on his face, but she couldn't read him very well.

"Not nearly as much as you seem to think. Naruto's clones should reach him any second now, but... he'll reach his targets first I'm afraid.

Sakura grimaced. But Naruto's clones should give him the warning he needed. Hopefully.

-o-

Sasuke frowned, he could catch glimpses of the sand trio every now and again. His sharingan had made sure he wouldn't miss anything. For example, the little ambush the puppet user planned? He had seen it!

Still, he would have to fight the boy, or he could just forget reaching Gaara, a knife in the back just didn't seem all that appealing to Sasuke.

So he changed his direction slightly and rushed into the other boy. He nearly bet it would be just a puppet, but if he moved fast enough...

He pulled out a kunai. This would require excellent timing. His target's eyes widened in shock, as he saw Sasuke barrel down on him, but whether it actually was him or not? Who could tell. Just for good measure Sasuke looked him in the eyes and used his newest genjutsu on him. He didn't react. just the puppet. Good.

Sasuke smirked as he seemed to miss his jump and fell before he reached the puppet, at the same time he threw his kunai however. The puppet simply raised it's arm to deflect the projectile.

Sadly, while it could easily deflect a simple kunai, the explosive note wouldn't leave it unscathed.

Sasuke could hear the explosion behind him. Sweet music to his ears. Still, he couldn't assume the puppet had been destroyed, he had assumed Kakashi defeated too many times, only to have his teacher pull some trick and managed to avoid damage entirely. Sasuke wouldn't make that mistake here, where his life was on the line. He couldn't die here. He still had a clan to resurrect and a brother to kill.

As soon as he landed he jumped away again, hiding himself amongst the many trees in the thick forest.

"Not bad Uchiha!" His opponent shouted, stupidly. Did he really want to give away his position like that?

"But it will take a lot more than that to damage him. He's a piece of art you know?" Kankuro tried to taunt Sasuke. But really, Sasuke didn't expect his little puppet to fall apart after one little love tap.

He homed in on the sound, his sharingan spinning. He could see the chakra strings, connecting his opponent to the puppet. And he could see the chakra flow, which made it far too easy really. Why did it feel like cheating again? This was war, there was no such thing as cheating. You did what you could to beat the enemy.

He quickly followed the string and came face to face with his opponent. Kankuro reared back in surprise, however Sasuke didn't give him time to react. A quick genjutsu later and Sasuke switched his attack vector. Satisfied he noted the puppet crash into the tree where he would have been according to his genjutsu.

"Sasuke!" Naruto's voice ripped him out of his thoughts. He whirled around, to be greeted by several of Naruto's clones. "Sasuke!" They shouted again, clearly out of breath. Still, he had a job to do. And if Naruto's clones had reached him, then Sakura and Naruto couldn't be far behind. Probably conserving strength, or they had to deal with other attackers, maybe even both.

The important thing was that they were on their way. Which meant he could ignore this looser and move on. "Take care of him!" He shouted over his back and sped away, after the trace Temari and Gaara had left. He didn't look back, the clones would be able to delay Kankuro more than long enough.

-o-

Kankuro stared after the retreating Uchiha, only for a second though, then he focused on the charging clones. Damn, he didn't have the time to deal with this. If the boy reached Temari she would loose control over Gaara. And then? Then they all died.

On the other hand, he dodged a kunai. He couldn't ignore these clones either. Twenty of them, and as he knew from the arena, shadowclones. He would have to make short work of them, before the blond idiot caught up to him.

He glanced back, after the Uchiha one more time. And what if they actually caught up? All of them? Gaara hadn't ever faced enemies like this. They had already rattled him, driving him around the arena like a rat. And quite frankly... Kankuro had realized something in the stadium.

Shukaku, as powerful as he was, had once been defeated. Maybe just trapped in a jar, but he had been defeated. Why wouldn't it happen again? And this time, they had the nine tails as well. Could Gaara actually stand up to that?

A kunai whizzed past his nose, reminding him that he had his own battle to fight.

"You know?" One clone said to him. "If you could have held him just a little bit longer, we would have called him back and went on our merry way. We were just supposed to catch up with him and tell him to stay put. But nooo, you had to let him escape. Great job."

Kankuro glared at the clone. Now he got lectured by a freaking clone? Ok, if he lacked motivation to kill every single one of those bastards before, now he had plenty.

A single kunai ended the clones life, the clones around him easily scattered however. He sneered as he brought his puppet around them and managed to snag four more. He laughed at them. "This will be easy. You are nothing more than cheap cannon fodder."

They had barely tried to avoid him. And even now they stared at him in apparent incomprehension. "Uhh... of course?" One of them asked, confusion clear in his voice. As if the stupid expression hadn't given him away already.

They looked at each other, shrugged and charged as one. Kankuro shook his head in resignation. If course they knew, and of course they were only there to delay him. And of course, he could do nothing but let them delay him. His life sucked.

He quickly moved the puppet between himself and the clones. Only fifteen left, he should be able to crush them quickly and run after his real target.

A quick spray of poisoned kunai from the dummy's mouth ended the life of five charging clones. Several kunai from Kankuro ended another two.

He threw the puppet into them, but only four more disappeared under the heavy puppet. Four actually managed to make it through his defense. He glared as he dodged their attacks. Rather dangerous attacks, even if they only attacked with their fists and legs.

He still didn't want to be hit by them. He twisted and turned, lashing out whenever an opportunity presented itself. He felt a slight resistance, whenever he hit a clone. Once, twice, trice. He dodged the next attack from the duo of clones still attacking him...

He threw himself to the side, barely avoiding the kunai thrown from another pair of clones. Where the hell had they come from? The puppet jumped up and took out two clones without any effort at all, but still six remained. Kankuro glared at them. While they smirked at him in response. They knew how close they had come to beating him just because he had gotten careless.

He couldn't afford to fall back farther after Sasuke. The battle had lasted maybe 30 seconds so far, and already the other boy would be close enough to Temari and Gaara that Kankuro would just be able to watch Gaara unleash the demon, as soon as he caught up.

He didn't want his sister to die. No matter his claims to the contrary. But still, what could he do now? He sighed... and jumped for the first clones, even as the dummy charged another. They jumped out of the way with contemptuous ease, only for Kankuro and his puppet to switch targets almost immediately.

Two more clones disappeared and as they closed in on Kankuro he fired another shower of poisoned senbon at them and him. But he knew where they would end up, he could move away from them with ease.

The clones weren't so lucky. And not skilled enough to dodge either.

And he stood alone in the clearing, only him and his puppet. He sighed in relief. Now he had to catch up to Temari, let the Uchiha get into a fight with Gaara and pull his sister out of the battle. She would feel obligated to stay with Gaara... or she would be too terrified to move. He wondered if he could do better. Honestly he doubted it. But family... family was family and you had to watch out for it.

No matter that their father apparently considered it an outdated concept. Kankuro still lived by it and it hadn't steered him wrong yet... unless you counted the invasion of Konoha. But really that had been the Kazekage's idea, not his fathers. So it didn't count anyway.

He packed the puppet back into it's package, just before the world turned black.

-o-

Ino gagged in disgust as she looked down the body she inhabited. The paint felt heavy, on her face, the clothes were throughoutly dirty and she had stank. Not that she didn't in her own body. Running like that worked up a sweat that even the best shampoo couldn't entirely neutralize, but still this felt so much worse.

"Could you hurry up? I want out of this body as soon as possible!" She moaned.

Sakura smirked as she finished tying her up. "We have other reasons to hurry you know? And once I get that reason into my hands... away from the single most dangerous individual around here, I'll give him a reason to want out of his body and fast!"

Ino shuddered, Sakura's threat terrified her all the more, because she delivered it in that empty voice of hers. Poor poor Sasuke... wait, she agreed. If he had just waited for a second, instead of charging ahead blindly...

"All done." Naruto stated, holding the shattered and broken pieces of Kankuro's pupped in his hand. "He won't be able to fight with this any time soon." He grinned at them and Ino felt herself agree. His clones had done a real number on the puppet, and she couldn't recognize it for a puppet at all anymore.

"I'm done as well." Sakura said from below her and stood up. Ino immediately released Kankuro, glad to be back in her own body.

"Huh? What's going..." He started to say, before Sakura's fist send him into dreamland.

Ino could see Naruto blink. "Huh... Uhh I think Asuma and a few chunin just came across our other captives." He said confused. "No idea how I know though."

"Probably the same way you knew that Sasuke didn't wait for us." Sakura informed him. "Just leave a few clones here, we have to catch up to Sasuke and fast. And if Gaara hasn't already killed him when we reach him... I will. Move out!" She shouted, totally unnecessary in Ino's opinion, they understood her well enough when she didn't shout.

-o-

Sasuke quickly caught up with Temari. No surprise there, she had to carry Gaara, so she moved much slower than him. Still he took his time actually catching her. It gave his teammates an opportunity to take out Kankuro and catch up with him.

And he didn't want to fight Gaara without them. Even if his sharingan worked exceptionally well against him, who knew what he still had up his sleeve? He had tried to pull something in the stadium, what Sasuke had no idea, but he would bet everything in the Uchiha compound that it wouldn't be anything good.

Actually, he didn't want to fight Gaara, period. But he had his orders and damn it he would fulfill them. Or try to at least. Once it became clear he couldn't actually fulfill them? Even with his team? Yeah, then he would give up. Not before though. If he gave up at the slightest bit of resistance how could he ever hope to face Itachi? He couldn't, that's how.

So he followed Temari, driving her before him. He noted how she slowed down, not so much from exhaustion, thought that probably played a part as well, but mostly from the fear of being hunted. That fear while it did provide a certain boost also hampered your movement when it became clear that your hunter wouldn't let up.

Gaara's movement on her shoulder worried him however, he seemed to become more and more agitated. As if he could feel his sisters fear, even though he seemed to be unconscious...

Suddenly Temari flew forward, she didn't jump... Gaara flung her away and he turned around.

"I'll kill you." He shrieked. "I'll make you pay! I'll feed your blood to mother!" Wow, stark raving mad again.

Aaaand sand started to grow out of him... great. Maybe he should have waited? Sasuke watched the transformation impassively. Idly he noticed Temari retreating, farther away. Afraid of her brother? He could relate and not just because of Itachi. Standing here, alone, against Gaara... it hadn't been one of his smarter moves.

Oh well, he would just have to delay the homicidal maniac until Sakura and the rest showed up. No problem right? His sharingan had worked once, why wouldn't it work again?

Gaara stood there, half his face encased in sand, a grotesque arm of sand had replaced his human one. Also, a tail had appeared, actually that last one looked kinda funny. If you ignored the murderous look in his eyes.

He activated his sharingan and looked at him, a howl of rage came almost immediately as a response. Sasuke sneered in amusement, genjutsu... why did he dismiss them for so long? They were simply the best tools ever.

Sand rose from the ground, a gigantic pillar of it. Hmm, maybe discretion would be the better part of valor Sasuke decided and jumped down onto the forest ground, to hide behind a tree. Hopefully the thick trunk would hold against...

The expected tsunami of sand crashed against the trees, decapitating most of them and rasping the bark off below that point. If he had stayed there, he would have been scoured to the bones. Sasuke grimaced at the thought. Luckily Gaara seemed to need the transformation in order to control that much sand. Or he would have used it in the arena surely.

"Come out, come out where ever you are. I can smell your fear." Gaara shouted gleefully.

Sasuke merely raised an eyebrow. How stupid did the guy think he was? Open conflict against him? Maybe Naruto would be stupid enough... well maybe Naruto could actually do it. Sasuke didn't have a demon inside of him. He wouldn't directly compete with one. His eyes gave him too much of an advantage here not to use it though.

He tried to catch Gaara's eyes again, but the jinchuriku looked away from him.

Some feeble movement caught both Sasuke's and Gaara's attention. Temari slowly managed to claw herself out of the mound of sand that had buried her. Sasuke considered himself lucky his tree had shielded him from the worst of that. He slowly made his way out of the sand burying his legs. Gaara's head snapped around immediately, followed by several tons of sand. Sasuke hastily captured Gaara in another genjutsu and catapulted himself away.

Damn, if the guy reacted like that every time he saw something twitch...

Sasuke glanced at Temari, slowly crawling away form the battlefield, coughing up sand as she went. He hadn't attacked her... but would he hold back if Sasuke riled him up any further? He doubted it, and really he had no desire to kill her, even indirectly. She seemed like a decent sort, kinda, if you didn't count the invasion and all that.

Sasuke pointedly ignored the tree he had hidden behind. Or more precisely the little stump that Gaara's attack had reduced it to.

"Hurry up damn it." He whispered, to himself. He needed his team to beat Gaara, his genjutsu would easily create an opening for them to exploit, but alone one mistake would cost him his life.

He frowned uneasily. What to do? What to do? He could just hide here, behind another tree.

Gaara screamed incoherently and attacked another tree, reducing it to splinters again. And how did he notice Sasuke that time anyway? He should have still been trapped in the genjutsu.

Sasuke jumped out and broke into a mad dash, a quick look at Gaara enabled him to create another genjutsu, this time of himself running behind different trees, while the real him ran towards the hole beneath Gaara, from which he called his sand. The area around the hole actually remained free of sand, as he used it to scour the surrounding forest.

Idly Sasuke wondered what exactly he was doing, running at his opponent like this. As soon as he had arrived beneath Gaara he had started running up the tree Gaara stood on... or crouched on. He sat there, like an animal, ready to pounce on his target the second it made itself known.

Sasuke also noticed Gaara hadn't attacked any of the illusions he should have attacked. He narrowed his eyes. And the revelation came to him. The sand, he could feel the sand. So if he didn't feel any movement on it... he didn't attack, if he did feel movement however. Great. He couldn't touch the sand, made this soo much easier, really.

He had nearly reached Gaara and pulled an exploding note out. Gaara still hadn't noticed him, he was so intent on searching for Sasuke on the ground. This would have to a finishing blow though, Gaara couldn't stand back up from this.

Gaara's head whirled around, and Sasuke's eyes widened as Naruto stomped into the clearing, heedless of the danger.

Gaara didn't waste a single second and threw everything he had at him. Naruto barely had time for a surprised squawk, before the sand reduced him to a fine paste.

For a second Sasuke saw red, but h managed to get himself under control again, especially after he saw another Naruto step onto the sand, on the other end of the clearing. Gaara struck with another blow of sand, reducing that clone to smoke as well.

They repeated this a few more times, a demented game of whack a mole. It would have been funny if Gaara hadn't intended to actually kill Naruto. So Sasuke took a deep breath and waited for the next Naruto to enter the clearing.

Just as Gaara's head whipped around he moved. The kunai flew directly at Gaara's unprotected neck, while Sasuke hurled away, onto the stump of an unfortunate tree, from there he jumped towards the thicker forest. He needed to meet up with his team. They needed to come up with a plan.

He glanced behind him briefly, after he heard the note explode and grimaced. He had forgotten about Gaara's shield. It had sprung up and protected Gaara against the explosive note.

With an additional burst of speed he cleared the field of sand surrounding Gaara. He didn't look back, he didn't even try to dodge, he just ran as fast as he could. And it payed off, he cleared the field just before the sand crashed down behind him.

"Graaaaaaa!" Gaara screamed in frustration.

"Damn. That is one ugly bastard." Kiba muttered a bit to his side. Sasuke stopped, breathing hard and looked at the other boy.

"Kiba." He panted. "I've never been more glad to see you."

"Wow, never thought I would hear you say that." Kiba grinned at him confidently.

"Never thought I would fight alone against somebody like Gaara." Sasuke glanced back. "That guy is utterly insane. He only cares about lashing out at the world."

Kiba nodded slowly. "Yeah, come on, Sakura positioned us around the clearing." He grimaced as Gaara started to lash out at random, striking whatever he saw.

Sasuke winced at the display of power. He wondered what Naruto could do if he actually used the Kyuubi like Gaara used his demon.

"We are supposed to meet up with her once you managed to escape." Kiba added.

Sasuke nodded, it made sense after all.

-o-

Sakura glared at Sasuke as he made his way to her. Gaara seemed content to attack the forest for now and maybe he would go away after a while. She really hoped he would. It would make this so much easier.

"Damn it Uchiha." She growled at him. "Why did you have to go and fight him?"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "I had orders." Came his reply immediately.

Orders, huh? Well she had her own orders. And since Kakashi only said to follow Sasuke she could interpret those as she wanted. Which right now meant she interpreted them as don't engage unless you absolutely have to.

"Fine. Kakashi gave me leadership of these squads. We are going to stay here and watch Gaara. Nothing else, if he decides to just go away? That's fine with us, we don't need to fight him then. If he decides to fight... well... we'll fight back." She glared at him extra hard. At least he had the decency to look abashed, if only slightly.

"We can beat him." He muttered defiantly.

Now Ino glared at him too. "Maybe, but at what price?"

"Hey, he shouldn't be too much of a problem." Kiba piped in. "I mean we have Naruto right?"

That made Sasuke perk up, and look at them all. "I told them about Naruto. They need to know if we have to fight Gaara." She told him.

Hinata gasped. "He looks as if he calmed down again."

"Is that good?" Naruto tried to look at Gaara, but he couldn't see through the trees, like Hinata could.

"Uhh, hopefully?" Choji said, doubtfully though.

"He's looking in our direction..." Hinata added.

"Not a good thing then." Kiba sighed sadly. "Looks as if you'll have to earn your keep Naruto."

Sasuke shot him an annoyed look. "You'll fight too mutt."

Kiba grinned at him. "Of course, but Naruto represents our big guns. We are just small fry."

"Shut up." Sakura stopped them before the bickering really started. "Hinata, what's he doing?"

Hinata gulped and took a step back. "He's coming." She whispered.

Sakura nodded, she didn't feel worried. If there ever came a situation where the sleeping gas would come in useful, this surely was it.

"Naruto, take this. Careful with it. I want some of your clones to attack Gaara and just make sure this explodes around him." She handed him a small vial. "The rest of you, stay away from Gaara and that spot."

Naruto had already created the clone and send him off with the vial and several guardian clones.

"It's a sleeping gas and I don't want to hit any of you. Once Gaara's down, if he goes down that is, we are going to take him into custody. If he doesn't go down... well, Naruto will fight him head on, distracting him and making sure he can't focus on us."

She looked around, getting nods in return.

"Sasuke will continue to confuse him with genjutsu. Whatever you did in the arena can you do it here as well?"

Sasuke nodded in response. "I can, but I can't guarantee it will be as effective. Whatever he's doing right now, he's much more powerful than in the arena, you see the sand around us. If he had done the same in the arena... I wouldn't have managed to come as far as I had.

She nodded, Gaara's power seemed to have increased by several orders of magnitude. But she wouldn't let that stop them. "Naruto can create a few hundred clones, without the Kyuubi, if he accesses it's power..." She looked at the blond, who shrugged uncomfortably.

She noted that Hinata didn't look at him and he avoided looking at her, whenever she mentioned the Kyuubi. Hopefully they got over it. Less problems for everybody that way.

"I think maybe a thousand clones?" He said uncertain.

That number should be more than enough to bring Gaara down. If every clone only managed to land one hit, Gaara would be a shatter and bloody pulp of meat.

Suddenly Shino showed up, Temari held in his arms. "I've managed to extract her." He said, almost bored.

"Let me go." She struggled weakly against his grip.

"Heh." Naruto laughed, but he didn't look at Temari, he looked into Gaara's direction. "The package is delivered." He turned to her. "From what my clones saw he's already falling asleep." He reported.

Sakura blinked, how did he know that anyway? She looked at Hinata for confirmation.

She nodded quickly smiling in relief. "He's falling asleep as we speak. He's still struggling, but he won't be for much longer."

Sakura smirked, one problem solved then.

Temari gasped. "What do you mean he's struggling against falling asleep?"

Sakura didn't like the fear that crept into the girls voice. "I've used a sleeping gas against him... why?" She really didn't like the look of utter horror that had replaced Temari's usual calm face.

Behind them, in Gaara's direction, chakra suddenly exploded. A massive wave of killing intent crashed over them. And something gigantic grew out of the forest.

"Because if Gaara falls asleep Shukaku comes out to play!" She screamed into their faces.

A lot of glares came into Sakura's direction. "Hey, how was I supposed to know?" She quickly defended herself.

"How could you possibly miss the shadows under his eyes?" Temari continued her screaming, and renewed her struggling. "We have to get away, if he's forced to sleep thanks to your stupid gas he won't wake up at all."

Sakura smiled sickly. The gas would indeed keep him asleep even through a heavy beating.

"I've got an antidote... it should wake him up." She offered weakly.

Temari stopped her struggles and looked at her in disbelief, then she looked at the towering Shukaku, who seemed to look for targets.

"You mean you want to fight that thing?" She laughed shrilly. "He's on it's head. You would have to scale the entire damn thing, somehow not grab it's attention and then administer the antidote."

Sakura gulped, said like that... it sounded utterly insane. Curiously she didn't feel afraid. Maybe an overload of fear led to her not being able to feel it anymore.

"It's my mess." She said calmly to Temari. "I'll clean it up."

Normally she would laugh at Temari's expression, in this state however she merely noted the amusement she would get out of it.

"Naruto?" She asked her teammate. He looked at her for a second before nodding. "I'll make sure it's too distracted to go after you." He said.

Sasuke sighed. "I'll make sure you don't kill yourself."

"Heh, thanks guys." She turned to the others. "Well, as I said, this is my mess..."

"Hey! Are we supposed to just stay back here? I won't let Sasuke face that thing alone... or you for that matter." Ino glared angrily at her.

The others nodded as well.

A small smile stole itself onto Sakura's lips. "Hehe, just making sure you are in this on your own. By the way... if you have a better idea than run up the things hide... I'm all ears."

Ino craned her neck to look up, trying to make out Gaara probably. "Well... if you can make it hold still..." She didn't seem too sure of herself.

"It's a plan B then." Sakura nodded. "Anyone else have an idea."

Shino shook his head. "Nothing springs to mind. None of us has a weapon that could ever bring this thing down."

Sakura nodded at him. "Well, then I suppose you guys support Naruto and make sure he survives this." She glanced at Hinata especially, who had drawn herself up and glared fiercely at Gaara.

In a way she looked rather cute, in another... Sakura didn't want to fight her like that.

"I'm with you forehead." Ino said matter of fact. "There's no way I'm gonna just watch as you climb that thing. And if your plan to wake him up fails... well, then the closer I am to him the better no?"

Sakura grunted, but nodded anyway.

"I'm going too then." Choji stepped forward. "Ino will need somebody watching her back as well."

Ino looked at him for a second, before she nodded gratefully. "Thanks Choji."

He nodded seriously at her.

Temari stood there utterly speechless. "You... all of you... you actually want to face him? Are you out of your mind? You'll die!" She whimpered.

"That's our home." Sakura pointed into the direction Gaara had turned, a deep rumbling chuckle could be heard above them. "If we can protect it by dieing? Then so be it."

Though she suspected not everybody agreed, it would boost morale.

"Naruto, make sure she doesn't escape alright? Best to get her away from her altogether." Naruto nodded and two clones stepped forward to escort Temari away.

"Well then, let's go, before he moves too far away for us to do anything at all." Sakura looked up, and up, and up. How could something this big even exist?

She suppressed a whimper, nobody needed to hear that. They needed supreme confidence now.

She wished she had somebody she could leech confidence off of.

Glancing at Sasuke didn't help, while he had plenty of anger, confidence didn't seem to be in the package.

And even Naruto seemed a bit unsure of himself in the face of Gaara's demon unleashed.

"Move out!" She shouted and ran towards the hulking giant.

She could feel the others following her, or in Naruto's case, moving to intercept the giant.

Hopefully she hadn't send them all to their deaths.

-o-

Naruto didn't look to the side, as he ran alongside Shukaku's flank. He couldn't afford the distraction, he needed to come up with something to draw the beasts attention.

He rather doubted shadowclones would do much, beside being swept away as an annoyance.

What else did he have though? Exploding kunai whose explosions would barely even register, normal kunai, waterwalking, some storage seals... and the Kyuubi.

Only one problem, while he could access the Kyuubi's power, and it boosted him considerably, he still couldn't duplicate the feat of transforming himself into a gigantic demon fox.

So, he had to fall back on old standby, shadowclones. But what could he do with those?

Idly he noted that they had nearly reached the demon's front. Just a bit more time till he had a workable idea.

He looked back and at his comrades, they all looked the same, anxiously avoiding a look sideways. In fear of what they would see.

"Any of you have an idea on how to grab his attention?" Naruto asked dubiously.

Akamaru whined piteously from his position on Kiba's head.

"Honestly? None. We have some powerful attacks, but nothing that would even scratch something this big." Kiba answered for his dog.

"My Kikai would be full before they had even started draining him of his chakra." Shino confirmed Naruto's suspicion.

"I'm sorry, but the gentle fist won't work on something so massive." Hinata shook her head sadly. "I'll be able to protect you against his sand though." She added, steel in her voice.

Naruto blinked, he wondered where that came from, but didn't dwell on it. He had to come up with something.

By now they had managed to move in front of the slowly moving demon. He didn't seem to be in any hurry, stepping towards Konoha at a snails pace... for a several stories tall demon. They still had to run rather fast to make sure they made it ahead of him.

Well, what did he do the get attention before he became a ninja? He couldn't paint the guy, but he could still shout.

Naruto signaled the others to stay back. And made his way to the largest tree in Gaara's way. Quickly he found himself on it's tip, facing down a damn big monster.

Only now, that he stood directly in it's way, could he really appreciate the size of that thing.

"Damn, but that is big." He muttered dejectedly.

He took a deep breath, either he caught it's attention now... or he would end up paste as it stepped on him.

"GAAAARAAA!" He shouted as loud as he could, funneling chakra in his lungs to increase the noise. It kinda hurt, but damn if it hadn't been effective.

The demon had stopped in it's tracks and looked around in confusion.

"DOWN HERE, DUMBASS!" Naruto added annoyed, he never could take being overlooked.

Shukaku looked down and Naruto glared at the demon.

"YEAH! YOU WANT A PIECE OF ME? COME GET IT!" He shouted up, way up to the demon.

What exactly possessed him to do that? That thing could squash him like a bug! But he refused to back away, to show fear in the face of that thing.

The demon laughed. The pressure of the wind alone nearly flung Naruto away, if he hadn't anchored himself to the tree.

"You? You challenge me? Kekeke!" The demon roared... or said, Naruto couldn't be sure, it was more than loud enough to be a roar, but considering just how big the thing was, it might just be talking like normal... for itself. In any case, Naruto needed to shout, he just didn't have the size advantage.

"HELL YEAH!" He roared up. "YOU'LL NEVER DEFEAT ME!" Unless he decided to put a paw on top of Naruto of course, but no need to tell him that.

"Kukuku." The demon chuckled, once again buffeting Naruto around. "You are quite amusing bug. Let me show you, why you little humans don't mess with me! I'll enjoy crushing your little body!" Naruto grimaced, but running away didn't even register with him. He wouldn't let his comrades down.

Raising one of his paws the demon confirmed Naruto's worst fears, but he wouldn't just give up, he couldn't.

So he jumped, and at the apex of his jump he created a clone. Who boosted him a bit higher, and another one, and another...

The paw descended already and Naruto wondered what would happen if he wasn't fast enough, if he didn't clear the paw. He produced more and more clones, rapidly pushing him higher.

And he could see the paw pass beneath him, for the demon it must have looked as if he missed the insect by mere millimeters, for Naruto it looked as if he had a lot of room.

Of course, the wind passing behind the paw ripped into him a second later and flung him away, down onto the ground with far, far too much speed. Damn, if he landed with this much speed...

With a thunderous roar the paw slammed into the ground, crushing whatever stood beneath it and forcing a gigantic cloud of dust up into the air.

Naruto gulped, as he saw the devastation around the paw. Hopefully none of his friends still stood there...

He closed his eyes and braced for impact as the ground approached at high speed. This would hurt so much worse than Shika beating him with his own clones...

Suddenly the air filled with a strange buzzing, all around him, and he seemed to slow down?

He opened his eyes again, and found himself surrounded by hundreds, no thousands of bugs, who did their best to slow him down and break his fall.

He glared at Gaara no, he wouldn't wait that long, he couldn't afford to give the bastard demon even a second to notice Sakura and the others climbing on his back.

Another clone sprang into existence and Naruto pushed off him again. In a way this allowed him to fly and for a few seconds he enjoyed the feeling of rushing through the air. Shukaku somehow manged to give the appearance of a raised eyebrow.

"Kukuku, die!" He laughed, the air blasting Naruto off course, forcing him to correct his trajectory with even more clones, but he wouldn't just stop. Shukaku didn't even try to raise his paw, instead he send a blast of sand against Naruto.

He remembered how the trees looked when Gaara scourged them with sand...

He looked at the bullet of sand in trepidation. And pulled out every little scrap of chakra he had available. Between him and the approaching sand a shield of shadowclones appeared, hundreds of them.

And as soon as they appeared they disappeared as well, as the sand crashed into them.

Nevertheless, even blunted the bullet ripped Naruto out of the air, and moved on at high speed. He grimaced, Shino wouldn't be able to to catch him again.

Naruto watched the approaching earth with some strange calm. If he died he wouldn't go down kicking and screaming, not in this situation at least, he would die...

His eyes widened as he spotted Hinata and Kiba, standing directly in the path of the oncoming avalanche. "No! Get out of there!" He screamed impotently, but the noise from the falling sand drowned him out.

He watched in horrified fascination as Akamaru transformed into Kiba and they jumped into a weird jutsu, ripping into the sand, just around Naruto, and through it, still he had no idea why exactly...

Hinata followed almost on their heels, with incredible precision, she managed to grab Naruto, the abrupt reversal of his direction send a ripple of pain through his arms, as they nearly popped out of their sockets, but that seemed infinitely preferable to being reduced to a stain buried beneath hundreds of tons of sand.

Hinata ran along the sand, following the hole Kiba and Akamaru had drilled through it.

From his position Naruto could see the ground rushing to meet them, at the speed they traveled it would still hurt like a bitch. But now Naruto didn't have enough chakra to create a single clone, he didn't even have the strength to run anymore.

But Hinata did have the strength and she somehow managed to accelerate even faster. And suddenly they had reached the other end of the tunnel. Hinata jumped off, flew for a few meters, before she landed on the branches of a decapitated tree.

Then she slammed him against the trunk.

"Naruto Uzumaki... never, ever do something that damn stupid you hear me?" She shouted in his face, tears fell down her own face, as she glared at him.

Mutely he nodded, he wouldn't, if he could avoid it.

"You survived..." The demon said, disbelieving. "You survived even that... thanks to your little friends..." He roared angrily. "Then I'll just kill your friends together with you, I wonder how their blood tastes?"

Kiba appeared panting beside them. "I... I don't think I can do that again... not if the sand hasn't been slowed down. This... this took a lot out of me." He admitted.

Hinata nodded as well, as she stared fearfully at the demon.

Naruto pushed himself up weakly, if he didn't do something Hinata, Kiba and Shino would die. If they died then Sakura would die as well, together with Sasuke, Ino and Choji...

He needed to be bigger damn it... much bigger...

Maybe a henge? He could make himself bigger. The question was just, how much chakra did you need to make a henge big enough to challenge Gaara?

Even if he used the Kyuubi he wouldn't have nearly enough chakra... would he?

He glared at the demon towering above him. Well, this would be his only choice. Either he got enough chakra from the fox... or he didn't and they would all die.

He closed his eyes, just as Shukaku reared back for another attack and found himself in front of the cage, that had become rather familiar to him lately.

He shivered ever so slightly as he stared at the eyes in front of him.

"So, here you are again, begging for power." The fox rumbled angrily. "So weak you can't even face the one tail without me."

Somehow Naruto could feel the sand falling on them.

"Shut up. If you don't want to die, you'll give me as much chakra as you can." He said evenly.

The fox glared at him, but Naruto could feel the nervousness of the fox. He knew they would die in a few seconds if he didn't hand his chakra to Naruto.

"Fine brat. Let's see just how much chakra you can take."

And Naruto found himself back in the real world, the avalanche of sand bearing down on him, Kiba and Hinata, chakra rushing into his body, in quantities he had never before know. Whenever the Kyuubi had given him chakra before it had hurt.

It couldn't compared to now at all. His veins felt like liquid fire cursed through them, his head seemed to drown in agony as the chakra washed through every miniscule part of his body. And his hands flew into the familiar seals for the henge, one of the few techniques he could master at the academy.

And now he could imagine why, his conscious floated on the wave of pain. The more chakra you pumped into a henge, the more solid, the more real, it became, you couldn't overload a henge, like a bunshin. More chakra only strengthened it.

And the fire in his veins exploded outward, almost on it's own it sprang into shape. And Naruto for the first time experienced the world from the perspective of a giant fox. The sand crashed into his back, but compared to the pain of the chakra cursing through him it barely registered.

He howled in anguish, and anger at Shukaku, rattling the demon for the first time.

"What? What did you? What are you?" The demon asked in surprise. But Naruto didn't give him time to react, instead he snapped for his face. From his position he could see Sakura and Sasuke making their way up the demon's flank, behind them Choji and Ino scrambled up as well.

And now that Naruto truly occupied the demon, they could operate without any fear of discovery, Naruto hoped. Because he could already feel the chakra ebb away. He couldn't buy them much time, maybe not even five minutes...

-o-

Sakura looked after Naruto and the others as they sped off to confront Gaara. Her and her little group would hang back and attempt to approach Gaara from behind. Hopefully not drawing his attention in the process.

She counted on the fact that they were far too small to even register on that body.

"Ok, let's go, we can't let the demon just run past us." She said and jogged beside the demon. The rest of her team followed her quickly.

"So, how are we going to get up there?" Choji asked with some apprehension.

Sakura shrugged. "Tree climbing seems like the best bet at this point. The fastest at least."

Ino narrowed her eyes. "So we just try and run up the giant made of sand... who can throw sand as a matter of course?"

Sakura had to admit there might be a slight flaw in her plan... namely that she didn't have a plan. "You got an idea how to test if he will notice us?" She asked her friend.

Ino rolled her eyes. "Aren't you supposed to be the smart one?" She took a kunai and flung it at the giant.

It stuck in the sand without any reaction whatsoever.

"Seems safe enough." Sasuke commented.

Ino nodded slowly, clearly not convinced.

"Umm... wouldn't we use chakra if we climb it?" Choji asked.

Yes, they would. And while the thing ignored ineffective dead weapons... she looked at the trees breaking away from it's skin, and other inconsequential things... what would it do if the weapon, or feet, in question were charged with chakra?

She quickly charged a kunai with a chakra charge and threw it at the demon.

Once again it stuck, but almost immediately a geyser of sand rushed from several spots on the leg and rammed into the kunai. Sakura winced at the sight. If it had been here standing there...

"So, how do we get up there now?" Ino asked, she looked slightly green around the face.

Sakura wondered how she looked probably not much better, on the other hand, she still repressed any and all emotions like crazy, so who knew.

"The old fashioned way." She answered and pulled out one of her few kunai left. "And with a bit of help from Gaara they are going to stick like crazy." She flung the wire up and into the demon. As expected it stuck and with the chakra charge, the charge she kept going to anchor it into the demon, combined with the mass of sand that struck the kunai deep into the body she felt very confident it would hold her weight.

"Uhh Sakura? Do you really think that was a goo..." The sudden stop of the demon cut Ino's question short as Sakura was ripped back, the wire in her hand cutting deep into the glove.

She grimaced in pain and barely managed to brace for the tree she sailed into.

Groaning she pulled herself together. If the thing had stopped then Naruto had started his little distraction. They couldn't afford to waste the time he bought them. Who knew how much he could even buy them.

"Come on! Hurry!" She shouted at her comrades. And suddenly Sasuke stood beside her. "Just concentrated on the wire. I'll make sure you won't need to worry about any sudden movement."

Sakura nodded at him. "Do you have a rope for Ino and Choji? They can't use a wire and I only have one more anyway."

Sasuke shook his head. "No I don't have one."

Ino looked at Choji, who shrugged and pulled out a short rope, probably intended as a restraint.

"Good, hurry grab the rope, then we'll start going up." She didn't add the hopefully she wanted to say. No need to bring morale down anymore.

Just as Sasuke had grabbed the rope and Ino had hopped onto Choji, Gaara reared up and threw them for a loop. Once again the wire cut into her hand, only protected by the thick glove. She hoped it wouldn't cut the glove in half, and with it her hand. She quickly send some chakra into the wire, to strengthen it and soften the pressure on her hand.

She barely noticed that they were thrown through the air at high speed, as Sasuke had said, he made sure she had only to worry about the wire and making their way higher up.

Still, four people were heavy and even with the chakra reinforcements it hurt.

No time to whine though, no time to worry about the others either. Or the way Sasuke just shielded her against a tree with his body.

She waited until the movement brought her close to the demon's body and twisted the wire slightly. Suddenly she stood on the demons flank, the ground moved uncomfortably beneath her and she desperately suppressed the desire to grab hold with chakra, instead she stepped up, at the same time as she pulled the wire tight with her chakra, slowly making her way up.

"Damn it forehead. That hurt!" Ino screamed from below, but Sakura ignored her. She had to hurry, the next movement of the demon would throw them off again and might ruin any progress they had made.

With Ino and Choji finding some purchase however, the weight hanging off her had lessened considerably and she with them working to get up as well they made relatively good progress.

Her chakra reserves emptied frighteningly fast however. She had used almost half of what she had started with, in only half the time.

And the demon reared back again, throwing them off with contemptuous ease. "Oh no, you don't!" She screamed and threw her other kunai. It stuck a good deal higher than her previous one.

Sasuke gave off a painful grunt as he struck something. Were they still not high enough to be clear of the trees? They had to move faster then.

With a grunt Sakura pulled on the first wire. Now that she had stopped using chakra on the kunai in Gaara the sand had soften a bit... not nearly enough to let go of it though.

Disgusted she gave up on tugging it out. Instead she focused on her remaining wire. She didn't look down. She had no desire to see her friends as potential smears on the ground.

"Keep going." Sasuke hissed, his voice taunt with effort and pain.

She nodded and grabbed the wire with her now free arm. Grabbing it with chakra she managed to pull herself up slightly. Another grunt from Sasuke signaled their return to Gaara's body. Her legs now on solid ground she made much faster progress. She could hear groans from below. So Ino and Choji were still alive as well. Good and they were with them too, even better.

Her breathing came in short gasps by now, but somehow they had made it more than halfway up already. Honestly, she had no idea how they managed that, but she wouldn't complain.

"Just a bit more." She whispered. By now she had most of her wire wrapped around her unprotected arm. If she were thrown off now...

The pain shooting through her arm a second later informed her that yes, tempting fate like that was a bad idea.

Her flight ended very quickly however, as the wire had been shortened considerably by now. Still, she glanced at her arm, with some slight fear. A short wave of vertigo came over her as she saw the blood running freely from the entire length. At least the wire hadn't cut entirely through it. The chakra coating granting her that much protection at least.

She suppressed a whimper and moved on.

"Sakura!" Ino shouted from below, but Sakura ignored it, no time. They had to hurry!

A roar, filled with agony and rage rang through the forest suddenly. Gaara jarred throwing her around again!

It also brought a gigantic fox into view as he threw himself at Gaara, stopping whatever movement the demon had planned to make.

"Is that... Naruto?" She heard herself whisper, the pain in her arm temporarily forgotten.

"Holy shit!" Ino shouted form below. Sasuke and Choji remained silent, but she could bet they were impressed as well.

"Hurry!" She shouted. "Who knows how long he can keep that up... the amount of chakra to make a henge that big..." It had to be a henge, unless the fox had somehow broken free and she wouldn't even think about that possibility.

So she pulled herself up some more, soon the ground became slightly slanted, which made climbing up so much easier. Only seconds later they all could scramble up without the help of the wire.

Sakura panted, her arm had been cut to ribbons, as she could see after she removed the wires, she grimaced. Luckily she appeared to be in shock, or something. It didn't hurt all that much anyway.

"Let's go, Gaara is probably close to the head. He'll need to breath every now and again."

She ignored just how banged up Choji and Sasuke looked, they must have taken quite a few hits for her and Ino.

Ino also looked horrified at her arm. "Sakura..."

"No time, we can take care of that later, we need to wake up Gaara now!" She shouted and started running along the demons back. Naruto had held the henge for a full minute now. And with the constant roaring, he was in a lot of pain, from holding on to that much chakra... Sakura couldn't help but whimper. How could he even stand it? But thanks to him Gaara held mostly still, only shifting muscles made the ground slightly unstable.

They quickly made their way to the head and Sakura breathed a sigh of relief. Gaara did stick out there and nothing appeared to protect him. They just had to stab him with the antidote and they had won.

Just then the fox disappeared.

"Shit." Was all she could say.

-o-

Chapter 12 finished, hope you guy like it^^

Again thanks to ZuzVaiyo for betaing


	13. Spoils of War

Expectations of Development

-o-

Spoils of War

-o-

The gigantic nine-tailed fox stopped Temari in her tracks. As soon as the other genin had disappeared she had started running, the clones had been easy to dispatch, she rubbed several gashes on her side, maybe not that easy. And she had started running.

Now? Now she could see that Konoha had control over the nine tails, as it almost immediately ran into her brother, stopping his advance with casual ease, roaring a challenge at him.

Oh god, what had they started? If the nine-tails destroyed Shukaku, and she had no reason to think it wouldn't, then... then... what would it do the the rest of the invasion force? They had to get out of here and fast.

She glanced at the tiny figure riding atop of Shukaku. Gaara... what would happen to Gaara...

She blinked, the other genin from Konoha actually had managed to climb Shukaku's body. How she had no idea, from the lectures the body reacted to applied chakra almost immediately, to prevent anybody from climbing it.

Intruders would be punched into the body, where they would be slowly ground to a fine red paste. She shuddered and banished the thought.

And yet, they had nearly reached Gaara, she closed her eyes. How did she feel about her brother? He had tried to kill her so often... well actually he had threatened to kill her so often. He hadn't made even one real attempt at it.

She didn't want him to die... sometimes, just sometimes mind you, he looked so vulnerable.

She opened her eyes again, the nine-tails had somehow disappeared, what happened? Did Gaara beat it? But no, the Genin had just reached Gaara, and the fox had become unnecessary, the easy contempt the blond had for Gaara infuriated her slightly. But why waste energy on a beaten foe?

She slumped down. What had they been thinking? How did they think they could beat Konoha?

-o-

Jirayia looked over at the Kyuubi... no, while he could feel the chakra even here, and while it certainly felt like the Kyuubi's, it lacked most of it's power. This could only be Naruto using the fox's power and he used it to form a henge to fight Gaara.

Jirayia dodged the blade of a sound invader and punched him, almost causally in the face. The man flew several meters and off Jirayia's toad. If the punch hadn't killed him, the fall would do the rest.

Jirayia glanced back at Naruto, how had he gotten the chakra for a henge like that? He only had access to one tail, the seal might let more chakra through, sure. But that mass of chakra should only be used if Naruto accessed more than one tail. Otherwise his body couldn't take the stress...

The fox disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared. And Jirayia grimaced as he could make out the tiny figure falling, roughly from the middle of where the fox had stood a few seconds ago.

Another figure rose from the ground to catch Naruto and Jirayia breathed a sigh of relieve.

"Hey, you!" He shouted at a medic nin. "Once you're done here, go there. And look after the genin, and hurry!"

The medic glanced fearfully in the direction Jirayia had pointed.

"But... the Kyuubi..." He shuddered. "And more importantly... the other thing..."

Jirayia glared darkly. "You will go there, you will take care of the wounded and if Shukaku is still there when you arrive you will do it while he rampages around you, is that clear?" He growled at the man.

The medic stared for a second then nodded. "Yes sir." He finished binding of the other man quickly, then sprinted off, towards Shukaku.

Jirayia nodded, he couldn't exactly blame the man for not wanting to be anywhere near that battle.

He turned back toward his own fight and grinned. "Come on you lazy reptiles, are you afraid of one little toad sage?" He taunted the giant snakes, staring at him in indecision.

-o-

Sasuke grimaced as he glanced at Sakura's arm. The blood ran down it pretty damn fast, much too fast. He tried to ignore how Shukaku's body seemed to absorb the blood, leaving no hint that Sakura's blood had ever hit the ground.

He also tried to ignore the malevolent chakra that had to be the Kyuubi's. As if the other demon's chakra hadn't been bad enough.

Luckily they had nearly reached Gaara, just a few more seconds and it would be over. At least he hoped it would be over. That last tree had ripped a rather large gash into his back and he bet he bled just a little bit slower than Sakura.

"Shit!" Sakura screamed, focusing his attention back to the here and now. He found his mind had started to wander, not a good sign.

And almost immediately he noticed why Sakura had cursed, the fox had disappeared and with his eyes Sasuke could make out Naruto falling to the ground, apparently unconscious. He didn't even entertain the other reason why he would limply fall down.

"Hurry! Sakura screamed, accelerating beyond what she had ever shown before, he could feel her chakra pulse, as she raced towards Gaara, however the body apparently could too, as a wave of sand rose to crush Sakura.

Sasuke grimaced as he rushed in to protect Sakura, stupid girl. If she had gone a bit slower...

"Raaaarh! Insects! I'll kill you!" Shukaku roared below.

Well, maybe her decision had been the right one, he thought just before his jump carried him into the wave of sand. He punched and kicked ineffectually at it, only managing to slow it down marginally, before the sand crushed him into the body.

He grunted and spit out some blood. If he didn't have chakra that would have been a sure sign just how badly things were going.

"Sasuke!" Ino screamed, Sakura hadn't even looked around, good. She had to wake up Gaara and thanks to Sasuke she had avoided the oncoming sand, the sand that currently rushed into Sasuke, pressing the life out of him. He also had started to sink into Gaara's body, shit.

Only one eye still remained free of sand, he grinned as he saw Sakura slam a needle into Gaara's arm, the sand armor provided a small measure of protection, but Sakura had somehow managed to punch through regardless.

"Nooo! I've just gotten out! I won't allow it! He won't... won't...wa..." Shukaku roared one last time, before he finally shut up. The sand stopped crushing Sasuke and he eagerly grabbed Ino's hand, as she came to a stop beside him.

"Sasuke! Are you alright?" She asked worriedly.

A weak nod was the only reply he could manage, but it seemed enough for her.

"Good, Sakura!" She sped off, and Sasuke could make out Sakura's form, slumped in front of Gaara, damn she had lost too much blood. His own breathing came heavy and he found it rather difficult to focus... damn, he had lost too much blood as well.

And why didn't the demonic body disintegrate?

The last thing he saw, before unconsciousness claimed him was Gaara leering at them madly.

-o-

Ino sprinted towards Sakura, Sasuke would be alright, even if he seemed rather weak. But Sakura didn't look as if she could just stand up again.

She sat at Gaara's feet, no slumped at his feet. And oh god, her arm looked even worse now that she got a good look at it. What had she done to it?

"You'll pay for that." Gaara hissed.

Ino stopped dead in her tracks. Gaara had turned around and leered at her. "You'll pay for making me fall asleep. I decide when I let Shukaku out, not you! I!" He roared.

Ino whimpered, they had beaten the monster, but the prison seemed intent on finishing it's job.

Gaara raised his hand, and the sand came rushing towards her, she whimpered quietly. How could she defend against that?

She closed her eyes, she had trained hard sure, but no she had no way to beat a coffin of sand...

A second later she heard a grunt and saw somebody else capture by the sand.

"Hahaha! It doesn't matter, who I kill first, mother will like his blood just as much as yours!" Gaara laughed.

"Choji!" Ino screamed, but instead of trying to uselessly claw at the sand she jumped around it. Choji wouldn't have sacrificed himself...

The sand exploded outwards, as Choji ballooned to three times his original size.

Gaara stared in utter disbelieve for a second, but a second was all Ino needed, out here she couldn't do a thing, but in Gaara's mind? Well, she would be the master there and if she could take over his body, then she could end the battle, no questions asked.

Hopefully the demon couldn't touch her in Gaara's head.

Her shintenshin slammed into Gaara, just as he tried to capture Choji again.

-o-

She found herself in a weird dark place. It seemed to be a city...she gulped, a city filled with corpses. There were some in every street, haphazardly thrown down here and there.

Damn, she had hoped she would just gain control of Gaara's body. But that had apparently been overly optimistic. But, what to do now? Every second she dawdled gave Gaara more time to kill her friends.

"What did you do?" Gaara screamed at her. He stood there, on the other side of the street. "Where are we? I don't like this place." The last part he whimpered.

"Kekeke, what do we have here?" Ino shuddered and turned around. Behind her stood a mini Shukaku, several chains bound him loosely to an iron pole, sunk deep into the ground.

"No! I won't you can't!" Gaara backed away fearfully. "I can't be here. He can't, I... I... I..." He pressed himself against a building, trying to disappear into the wall.

Ino stared at the display in confusion. The demon seemed to be restrained, why would Gaara be afraid of him?

"You can't escape, can't escape. You body is mine and you knoooow it." The demon giggled madly at Gaara. "Nobody loves you anyway, so why not give me your body? I can make them pay, and get at all that blood."

Gaara whimpered, but luckily he didn't move. Ino wondered at that. Why would Gaara fear a restrained demon so much?

Then she glanced at the chains again... they suddenly seemed rather fragile...

"Hehehe, yes you can't beat me little boy. I'll be out soon again, to feast again, to drink their blood and have so much fun."

Ino gulped, if Gaara fell asleep the demon could come out, maybe this counted as asleep?

But if so... then shouldn't Ino be able to take Gaara's place keeping the demon imprisoned? And she had a lot more control over a mind-scape than Gaara would have. He probably just kept the demon down, as much as he could. He didn't fight the demon... and if she really believed that, then she might just be able to beat the demon here. The chains still held after all, for now.

"Hey! You overgrown Tanuki!" She shouted at the demon.

Both it and Gaara suddenly stared at her. Both in utter disbelief. Ah, the power of false bravado.

"Leave him alone!" She pointed at Gaara, he was kinda cute, once he stopped being so bloody psychotic, he looked kinda like a little kid here actually... like a cute little kid with way too little sleep. Actually he reminded her a bit of Sakura, the same fear of people, the same confused reaction when somebody helped them out.

Just that Sakura had never reacted with violence to people teasing her... and she supposed Gaara had to deal with a lot more than teasing.

Still, now she had Gaara fixed as a victim to protect from a demonic bully, that made it so much easier to face the demon.

Bullies were easy to deal with, just show them who's boss and they ran away with their tail between the legs.

"Kekeke and what are you gonna do little girl? You can't touch..."

Ino smirked at the demon as several iron pillars fell around him, iron pillars just like the one he was bound to.

"What? What are you doing... how are you doing this?" He roared and batted at one pillar.

If she was right, then whatever seal imprisoned the demon, it used the mind of the host as a prison guard. Judging by the way Naruto acted he didn't have that problem. Gaara on the other hand needed to constantly be on his guard. And judging by the broken down chains... he had reached the end of his rope.

Ino on the other hand, she smirked at the demon. "I'm the next guard. Gaara's done enough, now it's my turn to keep you imprisoned."

She turned to Gaara and grinned confidently at him. "Hey don't worry, I'll keep watch for a while. You can rest a bit."

A quick wave of a hand and several chains sprung around the demon, chains much stronger than Gaara's feeble one.

Ino blinked, how had he managed to keep the demon imprisoned as a little kid? Instinct? Had to be, or maybe the demon just couldn't influence a baby's mind, since the baby didn't even understand fear?

In the background the demon howled as the chains slung themselves around his limbs and bound him firmly to the iron pillars. "Oh put a sock in it." Ino grumbled and imagined a giant sock appearing in the demons mouth.

Gaara blinked as the demon shut up, he stared at it for a long time, before he broke out laughing.

"He... hahaha... he... hehehe... he's shut up, you made him shut up..." He sobered up quickly though.

"Why... why do you help me?" He asked, looking at her distrustfully.

Ino considered him for a few seconds, she could lie and tell him it was because she like him or something, but... she didn't like lying like that.

"It's to safe my friends... you kinda remind me of one of them. But don't think I like you. I used that image to power myself up, I don't like people who attempt to kill my friends." She glared at him and he shrunk back.

Her glare soften a bit. "Damn it, don't act like that!" She grumbled.

"Like what?" He asked back, somehow the thought of fighting her didn't seem to occur to him at all.

"Like a little kid. It's seriously hard to be angry at you when you do that." Ino sighed.

Gaara looked at her a bit longer. "Will you kill me now?" He asked quietly.

Ino blinked at the question, she hadn't ever thought about killing the boy. She could she supposed, just take control over the body, then ask Sakura or Sasuke... no they were out of commission... maybe dieing... so Choji...

No, she couldn't ask him to kill Gaara. She shook her head.

"No, I won't kill you. I'll just make sure you can't hurt any of my friends." Gaara stared at her for a bit more.

"Oh..." He mumbled confused. "Why?"

Ino stared back, what kind of question was that? Why? Why would she kill him? Once he had been defeated, once he didn't pose a danger anymore she had no reason to kill him... and more importantly she had no desire to kill him.

"I just don't want to." She finally said.

Gaara looked at her in utter confusion. "But I hurt your friends... I... why wouldn't you want to kill me?" He stared at her as if she was a puzzle he couldn't understand.

Ino couldn't really say why she didn't want to kill him either, though probably because her friends might still be alive... if she got them to a medic fast. She glared at him, and she had no desire to get her hands dirty as well. Can't forget that, Sakura might not have had a choice, but Ino didn't want to drive a kunai into somebody's head like Sakura had.

So if she didn't have to kill somebody... beside, a living Gaara would be worth more to Konoha than a dead one.

"Eh, I'm not interested in needless bloodshed, that's all really. And if my friends die... I can still kill you." If Sakura died, or Sasuke... or even Naruto she would kill him. And she would enjoy it. But not before. She wouldn't kill just for the pleasure of it.

"Now go to sleep. I've got to look after my friends and I can't do that if you are around." She waved at him, forcing his mind to shut down.

Briefly his eyes widened, in an attempt to stave off unconsciousness, however the exhaustion of his constant struggle against Shukaku made it easy for Ino to overpower him.

-o-

The exhaustion hit her like a sledgehammer, she nearly fell asleep right there and then. Only a superb effort together with a liberal dose of chakra allowed her to remain awake.

Almost immediately she had to reign in the mental chains she had slung around Shukaku. How had a young Gaara managed to keep him in check? As soon as she had assumed total control over the body all her mental energy had to be redistributed to keep the demon down.

Still, her chain prevented the demon from talking, for now at least. She looked around, Sakura lay slumped at her side, a small river of blood running down her arm.

Sasuke quietly bled a small distance away and Choji had shielded her slumped body from more sand attacks.

"Choji!" She rasped, being in this body felt weird, much weirder than any other body she had ever taken over.

And it hurt, not just the lack of sleep. Also the chakra cursing through her veins. "Hurry and make sure Sakura and Sasuke don't bleed out." She winced as she felt a large part of the sand break off. She couldn't control it, she couldn't even begin to imagine how to control the sand.

"We need to get them off this sand, fast." She panted desperately trying to keep it together.

Choji didn't waste any time talking, instead he grabbed Sakura and Sasuke. He glanced back at Ino's body worriedly.

"Are you sure I should grab them?" He asked dubiously.

"Yes, they are hurt. I'm not..." She noticed that Choji had more than a few wounds as well. She hadn't noticed as they climbed up the giant. "And you can't carry me as well. Just hurry down, I'll try to..."

"No worries." Kiba had somehow appeared out of nowhere.

"Kiba? What are you doing here?" Ino asked him confused.

He grinned at her, after he picked up her body. As soon as Choji had seen Kiba he had started running down.

"Well, once Naruto fell down unconscious we thought that we would die soon, so we kinda cowered on the ground, waiting for the end. Just, well Hinata went and caught Naruto before he ended up an ugly pancake." He looked down sadly. "He doesn't look good. All that chakra... it did something to him. Hinata's trying to do something about it but..." He shook his head and glanced back worriedly. "I don't know how much good she can do. Whatever it is, Naruto needs a healer as well. He's bleeding..."

Ino winced as another spasm hit her borrowed body. The chakra of this demon didn't feel all that good either. "Just hurry! This thing is falling apart if you haven't noticed!" She growled.

Kiba blinked and looked around for a second then nodded. "You gonna make it down alright? Shino is protecting Hinata and Naruto at the moment."

Ino nodded. "I'll make it, just hurry so I can follow you!"

"Yes ma'am!" Kiba saluted quickly and jumped down, the sand he touched splashed away like water, leaving large holes in the torso of the demon.

As soon as he passed the halfway mark and reached the trees Ino ripped herself out of the sand and gave up any attempt of keeping it together. Instead she focused her chakra and tried to ride the wave of sand.

It quickly turned into a harrowing experience, as Gaara's shield of sand appeared again and again to defend against the sand rushing her from the sides. But Gaara's chakra had been so depleted, that it bit deeply into his supplies and consequently Ino's supplies as well. More than once she lost control and fell into the sand, nearly drowning.

Only by the faintest margin did she manage to pull herself out again. Ironically the shield that hindered her also helped her, by giving her some breathing space and protection against the sand threatening to crush her.

If only she could return to her own body. She would have, even if it meant killing Gaara, she might not want to do it directly, but if she had to decide between Gaara and her... it would always be Gaara that died.

Sadly she couldn't return control to him. Whatever she did in his mind-scape, she could feel that Gaara had somehow fallen asleep. Probably an oddity due to his nature as a demon container. She noticed blearily that she stood on solid ground, or sat... hmm a little nap would be wonderful right about now.

She closed her eyes slowly. Sleep...

"I'll kill you, drink your blood and eat your bones!" A voice laughed shrilly and Ino sprang up again. No wonder Gaara allowed the demon to talk to him. Nothing like that to shock you wide awake.

She pulled herself over to her friends, who had gathered around the unconscious team seven.

"How are they doing?" She asked weakly. Damn, she sounded so weird like this.

"Not good." Shino answered. He gestured to Hinata, who currently looked at Sakura's arm and applied some sort of salve and bandages. Choji did the same for Sasuke, who had a horrible gash on his back.

"Somebody should have a look at Choji once he's done. He's taken some damage as well..." Ino muttered.

Choji opened his mouth to protest, but a quick glare silenced him immediately.

"How's Naruto doing? Kiba said something about weird Chakra?" She looked at Shino, since Hinata had focused on Choji as soon as she had finished with Sakura.

Shino grimaced. "I don't know... from what Hinata told me the chakra from his seal keeps pouring into his body, even though he's unconscious." He looked down on Naruto. "Apparently it heals him... but at the same time, Hinata is sure that more demonic chakra is bad for him. His entire chakra system is apparently fried."

Ino felt her eyes widen. "What? He can't use chakra anymore?" She whispered, horrified. Poor Naruto, that would essentially end his dreams...

Hinata turned to her. "Not unless he lets that chakra heal him again... but... but..." Tears were running down her face. "I'm not sure that isn't something the Kyuubi planned. What if it will only heal him if he lets it out?" She looked at the boy beneath her miserably. "He won't accept it... but if he doesn't he can't do anything... and... and it would be extremely painful as well. His nerves are very sensitive in that state... he would be in constant pain."

Ino winced again, she felt sick, poor Naruto. "And there's nothing you can do?" She asked Hinata.

Hinata shook her head. "I can stop the chakra from the demon, but that's pretty much all I can do. And then he won't recover... and I think he needs the chakra just to survive..." She looked hopeless.

"He won't just die." Kiba grinned confidently. "He's too stubborn to just give up."

"Correct." Shino added. "Besides, he couldn't die yet, he hasn't beaten Sasuke properly yet."

Choji nodded quickly and Ino felt herself nod along. Even if she felt a lot less optimistic.

"Ok, who's wounded and how badly?" A calm voice asked them. They whipped around and stared at a Konoha medic. "And why are you just standing... ah," He noticed Ino's unconscious body. "A Yamanaka I assume?"

Ino nodded quickly, then pointed at Sakura and Sasuke.

"Naruto..." "Sakura and Sasuke..." Hinata and Ino started, and looked at each other. Ino quickly glanced at Sakura and Sasuke, they breathed evenly, and would probably make it through. They only suffered from a loss of blood.

"Just gimme two blood replenisher pills and I'll take care of them for now, they'll make it a bit longer. Just have a look at Naruto." Ino told the man, who glanced at Naruto, with no small amount of distaste. Ino narrowed her eyes, distaste and fear.

Everybody picked up on the distaste however, if not on the fear.

"I'll have a look at them first, the brat will..."

Hinata had moved much faster than Ino had thought possible for her. "You'll look at Naruto first, Ino can take care of Sakura and Sasuke, they just need some blood replenished, Naruto needs help. And if you don't help him... I'll... I'll..." Hinata faltered, as angry as she was, she just didn't have it in her to truly threaten an ally.

Ino on the other hand, and with the others looking decidedly angry as well, felt more than up to the task.

"If it weren't for Naruto we would all be dead by now. He's faced off against that thing with no help whatsoever." She glared at the man. No need to mention team eight helping him.

"You will heal him and you will do it gladly, because he's one of leaf's genin and a hero. And he deserves your respect." She glared at the man, who seemed somewhat taken aback.

"But... that... that..." He stumbled over his tongue... why hadn't anybody told them about the Kyuubi anyway? Sakura hadn't mentioned that.

"You mean the Kyuubi?" Ino asked, but suddenly the tiredness struck back with a vengeance, and even Shukaku's voice couldn't force her awake again. She struggled feebly against the embrace of sleep, but she knew she would loose that battle, and soon. How could Gaara win it? Constantly, for years and years?

And how did he keep his thoughts together? He? Who did she think about again...

The world hopped back into clarity and Ino stared down at the medic, who had removed a small needle from her body.

"That should keep you awake a bit longer." He said confidently.

Ino nodded, she didn't want to think about what would happen after she fell asleep. "Thanks, but now look after Naruto. He's tapped into the Kyuubi's power and it did something to him."

The man looked at Hinata. "She mentioned that..." He seemed clearly reluctant to work on Naruto, but after he shook his head, he turned to Naruto and knelt down.

His hands moved over Naruto's body only for a second, before he hissed and pulled back.

"What the hell?" He whispered.

"What's wrong with him?" Hinata asked worriedly.

The medic turned to her, a grimace on his face. "All his chakra points are frayed... they can still exclude chakra... but if he even tried to do it, he the pain would be... unimaginable." He shivered. "And even if he did somehow manage to work through the pain, the points wouldn't let him control the chakra at all. It could come in spurts, or in a trickle, from his hands, from the feet." He shook his head.

"This, this kind of damage..." Hinata looked down at Naruto.

"He, he used so much of the Kyuubi's chakra to henge himself into that fox..." She whispered.

The medic looked at her, then at the boy beneath him. He hovered his hands over Naruto again.

Ino watched with rapt attention, the colors seemed strangely bright, but she attributed that to whatever drug the medic gave her... Gaara... whatever.

"My god... he must have fried them as soon as he turned into that fox... maybe before then." The medic whispered, before he jumped away from Naruto and vomited all over the forest floor.

Grimacing he wiped his mouth. "Alright, if the kid can take that pain, then I can take his injuries." He muttered, glaring at the unconscious Naruto.

"You can help him?" Hinata asked, looking at the man with wide eyes.

He looked at her and Ino could see that he didn't feel all that confident in his abilities. "Maybe, I'll try at the very least. But I can't promise anything."

"There is still chakra pouring into him from the Kyuubi, we didn't stop it yet... it seems to heal him and it's a slow process, just enough to keep him alive." Shino mentioned.

The medic had knelt down again and nodded in slowly. "Yes, with his chakra points this frayed he would constantly loose chakra, it would seep out faster than he can replenish it." He frowned. "But the Kyuubi's chakra would also prevent them from healing again..."

Hinata nodded beside him. "Until the Kyuubi wants to heal him."

The man grimaced. "That's evil, the fox can keep him in prolonged agony as long as it wants..." He looked at Naruto's face, a frown on his own. "Kid, I might not like you... but I'll be damned if I let the fox have you."

His hands hovered over Naruto's stomach, probably to analyze the chakra of the Kyuubi. After a only a few seconds he pulled them back with a hiss.

"Damn, that hurts." He muttered and gazed at Naruto with new admiration. "How could he take all that and still form a henge that big?" He whispered.

"Can you stop the Kyuubi's chakra?" Hinata asked. "And if you can, can you make sure he doesn't die?"

The medic looked at her and slowly shook his head. "I could save his life. I'm not sure I could heal him, but I'm sure I can safe his life, but, but I can't even touch that chakra, it's almost as if I burned my hand, just that little touch there."

Hinata nodded. "Then just make sure Naruto doesn't die. I'll make sure the Kyuubi can't pump more chakra into him." She glared at the seal, her hands held just above it.

The medic had raised an eyebrow, then turned towards Naruto.

Hinata hissed, as her hands came into contact with the seal, but Ino could feel the slight pulse of evil chakra recede. Whatever she did, it worked.

Hinata had finished in seconds and Ino couldn't even feel the slightest bit of chakra escape the seal.

The medic on the other hand still knelt before Naruto, a soft glow over his hands and sweat running down his face.

He remained like that for a few more minutes then he pulled back with a sigh.

"I've managed to close the points. But... really his situation hasn't improved. They are still frayed and using them or even being conscious would only hurt him." He spat at the ground. "That's no life at all. Damn Fox... damn sand and sound."

Ino nodded, glumly. If they hadn't attacked, she wanted to hurt Gaara now, and the blond bitch. Wherever she had hidden herself.

"Can't you heal him later? In the hospital?" Hinata asked, desperation creeping into her voice.

The medic looked sadly at her. "I wish I could, we can burn them off entirely, that's no problem. But then he won't be able to use them at all. To really heal them though? It's... you have no idea what level of chakra control would be needed to pull that off. I know nobody in Konoha who has that level of control."

Ino noticed that he had hesitated briefly before he confessed that he knew nobody who could do it, Hinata had noticed too.

"But you now somebody outside of Konoha?" She asked.

He nodded, but not very hopeful. "Yes, Tsunade-sama could probably heal him... but nobody knows where she is. And even then, you would have to make her come back. And... well if anybody has found her he failed at bringing her back. I don't have much hope that somebody would manage now."

He looked away and noticed Sasuke and Sakura. "Well, Uzumaki has stabilized for now and we can keep him unconscious so he doesn't feel any pain. Lets make sure those two don't die on us alright?"

With horror Ino realized she hadn't received a pill, in fact she had totally forgotten about them! What if they had died while they discussed Naruto?

The medic dragged himself toward them tiredly. What if he didn't have the chakra to heal them anymore? Ino could feel hysteria getting to her, especially when he grimaced.

"They are pretty weak, at least the girl." He confessed.

"Sakura!" Ino gasped and slumped down at Sakura's side.

The medic grinned at her. "Don't worry, there's still chakra running through their systems and with this. He forced a small pill into Sakura's mouth and a lot of water she's be fine. His hand stopped over her bandaged arm.

"She'll have some nasty scars on that arm however, nothing I can do there." He shrugged.

"Will she be able to use the arm?" Ino quickly asked. If Sakura couldn't...

He nodded. "Yes, the wires didn't penetrate much more than the skin. No real muscle damage. But the skin is pretty much ruined all over the arm."

Ino exhaled in relief. Sakura could deal with a scar like that. If all else failed a genjutsu would do the job. If she couldn't use the arm though. It would spell the end of her career.

"We should go back." The medic said. "And you need to get out of that body. Who knows what being in there does to you."

Ino agreed, even if Gaara was kinda cute, she had no interest in his body at all... well maybe a little peek if she found some alone time, before she had to relinquish the body. Payback and all that.

-o-

Temari shook her head in astonishment. Those little kids had actually managed to beat Gaara. Somehow they had brought him down.

She couldn't see Gaara from here and she couldn't go there to safe him. They outnumbered her at least four to one. If she assumed Gaara to still be conscious... or at least capable of fighting. An unconscious Gaara would translate into another appearance of Shukaku after all.

She stumbled through the forest, away from Konoha. This entire invasion had turned into one big disaster, just like she had told them! But who listened to her? She was just the daughter of the Kazekage, not as if she had any actual power, or even just the base minimum of intelligence. Bah, if she had been Kazekage it wouldn't have come to this. She would have told Orochimaru to go and screw himself, preferably on something sharp the second she heard about Konoha's jinchuriki.

But no, her father had to insist on invading. Jackass.

"Temari,where's Gaara?"

She whirled around and came face to face with Baki. He didn't look like he had taken any damage, however Temari could see the little hints. He favored his side slightly, moved just a little slow and he had that little twitch that indicated he hid just how hurt he really was.

"They captured him. Not much I could do once Shukaku came out to play." She glared at him. "I told you so, you know?"

Kankuro landed beside them. "Yes, you did. But you aren't the Kazekage, so there wasn't anything you could do."

Temari narrowed her eyes at him. "Maybe I'll have to become the Kazekage then. At least then we won't do something this stupid again!"

Snorting Kankuro turned away. "Yeah right. Sorry but a fresh genin becoming Kazekage? Maybe if Gaara decided to try he could do it. You? No chance."

Baki however looked at her considering for a few seconds. "Maybe in a few years, if your father dies." He said blandly. A bit too blandly maybe, but Temari didn't mind, she would like to kill her father herself.

Kankuro gaped in disbelieve. "What? Her Kazekage..." He looked at Temari for a second. "You know? I'm sorry for everything, whatever I did, I'm sorry for it ok? Once you become Kazekage please don't execute me."

She snorted and ignored her brother. "What do we do about Gaara?" She asked quietly.

Sighing Baki shook his head. "We can't do much. Neither of us is in any condition to fight... we, we'll have to leave him behind." He said.

"No! We won't, we can't just leave him here." She growled angrily.

"Do you have a better idea?" Baki asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, we ask nicely to get him back." She said, quite seriously too.

Both men looked at her as if she had lost her mind.

"What? Ask for him back?" Kankuro snorted. "And the leaf will just hand him over? Just like that? Yeah right, as if."

Temari glared at him. "Of course they will. They have won, they beat him once, why couldn't they do it again? And next time they won't just send genin after him. I saw Jirayia and his toads beat those giant snakes. Why not send him next time? He'll make short work of Gaara. Even if their jinchuriki doesn't do it again."

She snorted. "More importantly though, the leaf doesn't want war. They prefer peace to killing. At least they have before. If we say we will leave them alone if they hand over Gaara... I don't think they have any facility to hold Gaara anyway. So..." She trailed off and shook her head. What she said made no sense at all.

"No, they won't hand him over. He's far too valuable. Even if they can't hold him safely. He'll be a bargaining chip against us." Baki shook his head. "We could try to break him out. Think you are up to that?"

Temari considered it for a second. But unarmed, tired and demotivated... she just couldn't imagine it.

"No, I don't think we can fight them." She admitted.

Baki nodded. "We can't. Let's go, they won't hurt Gaara, he's too valuable and he didn't do much damage either. So there shouldn't be much anger directed at him... at least from the decision makers."

He turned around and started walking away. "Lets go, no point lingering here. We don't want to be caught."

Temari looked back. They had to get Gaara back, even if he said he would kill them at the drop of a hat, he was still their brother. Never mind his value to the village. They just couldn't afford to loose him like this.

-o-

The group of genin made it to the hospital relatively quickly. While all were tired, especially Ino, most of them had enough stamina left to carry their wounded.

The hospital however had more than enough wounded to take care off, so it seemed that Naruto would end up outside on the street, like many other wounded.

An Anbu put an end to that though and ordered Naruto brought into the hospital. Ino blinked at that. After a quick glance at Sakura and Sasuke the Anbu disappeared again. Apparently they weren't as high a priority as Naruto.

A second later another Anbu appeared before her. "Yamanaka Ino?" He asked.

Ino nodded quickly, fighting the drowsiness. Whatever drug the medic gave her, it seemed to wear off now.

"Good, follow me." He gestured for Choji to follow as well. "She'll want to get back into her body fast I assume."

"If I leave this body then..." She said, hoping the Anbu wouldn't notice just how afraid she was of that happening.

"We are aware. I'm a specialist, don't worry. I can keep its chakra suppressed." The Anbu said, waving her concerns away.

Ino nodded quietly and followed the man. Had the hospital always been this dark? And where there always this many shadows?

And why did she hear screaming from everywhere?

"Hey! Stay with us for a bit longer." Somebody said. Ino blinked and found herself in the arms of the Anbu.

"Stay awake for just a little bit longer ok? You did good out there, but we can't really do this here. The prison won't hold for long with just me powering it." He said.

Choji remained quiet behind them, carefully carrying Ino's real body.

Ino nodded, she felt so tired and by now she could hear the constant whispering of Shukaku, stupid demon, could he just chant about blood? And nothing else?

The next time she managed to forced herself to concentrate on anything beside keeping her eyes open, or better before the Anbu forced her to focus on something beside it, she found herself in a chamber covered over and over in seals. Naruto laid beside her, still unconscious. If what the medic said had been true... it was probably better that way.

"What happens to Naruto now?" She asked worriedly.

The Anbu looked at her for a second, but through his mask she couldn't make out anything.

"We'll keep him in suspended animation while we are looking for a way to heal him. You friend did good sealing the Kyuubi's chakra, but I'm better." She thought she could see him wink at her, but that might just be the sleep deprivation she suffered from.

"You can leave his body now by the way, I'm ready to take care of him now."

Ino looked around, more Anbu stood ready, most showed signs of battle, not a few had bleeding wounds. "Are you sure... this is a hospital..."

She heard him chuckle. "I'm quite sure. Don't worry, this room suppresses chakra quite well if we want it to and as I said, I'm quite capable of taking on a demon."

Ino wanted to ask why he hadn't been there fighting the demon then, but he probably had been busy fighting in Konoha itself.

She nodded and finally, finally relinquished control. Almost immediately she could feel her hold on the demon breaking and hear him howl in glee.

Her tentative connection, even as she left the body allowed her to also hear the howl of frustration, as several bars of wood shot over Naruto and Gaara. The last she could make out from the demon, he had been restrained by wooden shackles, binding him far better than her chains ever could.

And suddenly the world jumped back into crystal clarity. The colors returned to their normal strength, she hadn't even noticed that they had dulled again, after the drug wore off.

Her own body felt fresh, rested... well her chakra tended towards empty, from her prolonged stay in Gaara's body, but compared to the fatigue she experienced there, she felt as if she could run a marathon, easily.

"Ohh, this is so much better." She murmured.

The prison Gaara and Naruto were in allowed her to see them. If they had been awake they could maybe have attempted to escape, the bars were very wide. But, they were unconscious of course and so couldn't even try.

A doctor stepped beside her. "Alright, let's get a quick look at you and your friend and then get you out of here. We have too many wounded as it is and if you can move under your own power we can't waste time on you."

He grabbed her roughly, poking and prodding all over her body. Ino grumbled at the rough treatment, but didn't fight him.

She noticed the first signs of chakra exhaustion on him, never mind the signs weariness around his eyes. He wouldn't have much, if any, patience left.

"Ok, you check out, nothing broken, no obvious wounds, get out." He shushed her away and turned towards Naruto and Gaara.

Choji stood beside her, apparently the doctor had already tortured him.

"So, I suppose we leave now?" He asked quietly. Ino nodded and they made their way out of the room. She noticed that several guards watched them closely.

To be expected after a large scale invasion. And it had ended as fast as it had started.

Maybe one or two hours had gone bye.

She shook her head. She just wanted to crawl into her bed and get some rest, even if she had more than enough strength left to do much more.

Just as she stepped outside Hinata ambushed her. "How's Naruto?" She asked worriedly.

Ino shrugged. "He's fine, don't worry. Some Anbu is making sure the fox can't try anything. A doctor is looking after him now." She didn't mention how exhausted the doctor looked, no need to worry Hinata.

"That's good." Hinata sighed. Ino would have commented on how fast Hinata moved, but she just didn't feel like it.

"I'm going home." Choji spoke up. "I'll see how my parents did."

Nodding Ino and Hinata waved him goodbye. "Yeah, I'm going to check as well. If they are even there..." Ino trailed off, not something she wanted to think about.

Glancing back for a second Hinata finally turned away from the hospital.

"I... I suppose I should return as well." She mumbled.

She waved Ino goodbye as well and moved swiftly away, toward the Hyuga complex.

Ino started her own way towards home. Hopefully her parents would be alright...

-o-

You shouldn't get used to regaining consciousness after forced bed rest. Sakura thought groggily, as she opened her eyes.

Being greeted by one of your teachers also shouldn't become something usual... so hopefully she could avoid this in the future.

"Welcome back amongst the living." Kakashi greeted her in his usual falsely cheerful way, completely with fake smile and a little wave.

"Ugh..." She tried to raise her right arm in a greeting, but the pain that shot through it, changed her mind. Why did it... oh right, the wires. She glanced at the arm, completely wrapped in bandages.

"Ouch." She muttered.

"Yes, ouch." Kakashi agreed, a bit more serious.

"So... since I'm here and alive I assume Gaara did wake up?" She looked at her teacher, who nodded amicably.

"Yes, though an awake Gaara would have been just as dangerous if Ino hadn't taken control of his body." Kakashi added.

Sakura blinked, Ino had taken on that demon? In Gaara's head of all places? "Wow."

Kakashi nodded. "Wow indeed. Though our experts think Gaara actually did most of the work. Ino merely used his mental tools to reinforce the controls." he shrugged. "Of course, she could just be that strong."

Sakura grinned at him, Ino certainly wasn't weak.

"In fact, if you hadn't brought all the people you did with you, all we sent out might have died." He said.

Sakura preened, until she noticed that Kakashi hadn't exactly praised her.

"But?" She asked.

"You still defied direct orders."

Huh? Where did that come from? He regularly missed important deadlines and made people wait for him, sometimes for hours!

"Well, as if you are..."

"...any better?" He asked mildly.

She nodded, slightly petulantly she admitted.

"Well, I'm not in the habit of challenging my direct superiors." He said.

"Neither am I." Sakura replied. Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

"It happened once!" She added.

Kakashi leaned back and considered her statement.

"I suppose." He finally said. "But we don't want that to become a habit now do we?" He asked her cheerfully.

She barely managed to hold back the impertinent comeback she had on her tongue. "No, we don't." She agreed.

"Heh, good. So we have to punish you."

"What? But I was right!" She tried to push herself up, but her arm gave out in pain before she had even managed to come up halfway.

"Hmm... maybe, but even so. You need to be able to follow orders. And your other superiors need to be able to trust you to follow them. I let you get away with it. Because I know you, because you were at least somewhat right and most importantly, because I didn't have much of a choice, you needed to hurry. Arguing with you would have added an unacceptable delay to your mission." He actually glared at her now.

She gulped, that could easily be considered blackmail on her part. If she got very unlucky it could even be considered treason...

His frown changed into a smile again. "Luckily for you, I don't carry grudges."

Yeah right.

"Still a punishment is necessary, to make sure you learn something from this." His grin had returned full force by now, bastard.

"So I thought about what I could do to punish you. First thought were D-Rank missions, but I get the feeling after all this excitement you would enjoy them."

Sakura glared at him impotently, bastard was right.

"Then I though about a week in prison with no pay and all that... but that does seem overly harsh, after all you are all alive."

Well, that wouldn't have been that bad... right? A bit unpleasant, but she could have dealt with it for a week.

"But then, what kind of punishment can I use for you?" He asked and now he had lost his smile, he didn't frown either, he just looked at her expressionless. Oh fuck.

"Well, one extremely unpleasant one, but a necessary one as well. Actually I'm lying. You would have to face this sooner or later in any case. Get up." He gestured for her to get out of the bed.

She grimaced as she slowly wormed her way out of the bed, taking care not to strain her arm.

She managed and found herself in a hospital gown, barefoot on the cold floor.

"Sasuke woke up half a day ago. He's been out only for a few hours." Kakashi said as they started walking.

"Oh, that's good." Sakura said, wondering why she didn't even get any slippers.

"Yes, he didn't take much damage really. You arm is way worse of than his back." Kakashi replied.

"The doctors said the wounds on his back might not even scar."

Sakura saw his eyes jerk to her arm, her arm that would almost certainly scar...

"It's a mark of pride, I survived combat with a demon. Wear it with pride right?" She said. But her shaky voice didn't fool him for a second.

Damn, she wouldn't cry, not because of one arm, that had some scars on it... or even for an arm that consisted of one very large scar. She knew what she got herself into when she read that book. She could have quit any time she liked. She could have quit yesterday.

"That's the right attitude." Kakashi lied right back to her.

They continued their trek into the bowels of the Hospital in silence.

Finally they stopped in front of a door. And Sakura dreaded what waited behind the door. She could still see Naruto. She had only caught a glimpse of him, after his henge failed, he had been unconscious, unconscious and around 40 meters away from the ground.

"Is... is he..." She didn't want to know, if he died... he couldn't have died right?

"He's alive." Kakashi said quietly and pushed the door open. "But he isn't alright."

Hinata sat beside the bed. Naruto slept in it, now and again he twitched.

Sakura moved slowly towards him. Hinata looked up and gave her a sad look.

Sakura had trouble breathing, whatever happened to Naruto, it happened because she told him to distract the demon.

She stopped beside Hinata. From up close he looked fine, no obvious wounds at least.

"What? What's wrong with him?" She asked fearfully.

"We are keeping him in a coma at the moment." Kakashi explained. "If he were awake..." He trailed off, clearly uncomfortable.

"If he were awake... he would be in constant pain. His chakra coils have been frayed by the Kyuubi." Hinata explained.

"What?" Sakura asked, frayed chakra coils could happen if you forced too much chakra into them... oh god, how much chakra would you need to create a henge that big? She looked down at Naruto. He looked so peaceful, sleeping like that.

"He... he frayed them using that henge..." She asked, looking at the floor.

She could hear clothes rustle as Kakashi nodded. "From what we guessed, as soon as he accepted the Kyuubi's chakra."

Which would mean he... on her orders...

She whirled around and ran towards the small toiled, at the back of the room.

Dry retching followed as she tried to empty her stomach.

She remained there for a few minutes, just staring into the water.

Until Kakashi came and hauled her up. "Don't think it's just your fault." He said blandly.

"But I ordered him to distract the demon!" She cried, she couldn't hold back the tears. Her arm had started bleeding again too. She could still remember the blood run down the mass of ripped flesh... well at least she could still use her arm, Naruto couldn't even move without experiencing mind rending agony.

"And I order him to go with you. And Sand and Sound attacked us." Kakashi countered quickly. "Still you are right. You ordered him to distract Gaara. So this is your punishment. You have to take responsibility for your orders."

Kakashi looked at her. His eye hard and cold as she sobbed in front of him. She wanted to escape those eyes, not just because she hated the way he looked at her, but also because she feared that one day she would have to look at somebody else like that.

"What? What do you mean take responsibility? What am I supposed to do about this?" She pointed at Naruto, with her bad arm she noticed, as pain shot through it.

Kakashi's expression hadn't change a bit. "What do you think you should do?" He asked, almost indifferently.

Sakura didn't know? She knew it was her fault that Naruto had to be kept in a coma. She should have insisted that at least a chunin accompany them if they actually had to fight Gaara, she should have retreated almost immediately right after Sasuke had returned. She should have...

She broke down in the middle of the floor, crying. Damn it, she was supposed to be stronger than this! She had done so well lately and now she broke down? Just because Naruto payed the price for her mistakes?

"Sakura!" She heard Hinata shout, but she ignored it. Still sobbing she looked at her arm. The blood had worked it's way through the bandages by now and dripped onto the floor. Couldn't the medics have healed that better by now?

What could she do for Naruto, that the medics couldn't do? If they couldn't do anything... no. This wasn't about what she could do. This was about what she had done. She tired to stop the tears, but they wouldn't stop. Still, she somehow managed to stand up and look at Naruto again.

She had decided to send him out there. She had trusted him to provide them with the time needed to wake up Gaara. He had given them that time... and he paid the price. She looked at her arm again. She had paid the price as well. Her arm would always have those scars, even if she couldn't see them yet. And damn it, this wouldn't break her. She could work through this.

But not now. She turned away from Naruto. "I... I need some more..."

"You don't have that time." Kakashi glared at her. "And if this happened in the field you would just enter that emotionless persona you've developed. You'll need to break out of that however. It's useful, sure. But that persona might one day fail you. And then? You'll go to pieces. If you can't face this here, and now. I'll recommend your removal form active service."

Her eyes widened. That bastard he... he... no punishment. And he meant it, either she faced this now, or never.

She turned back to Naruto, she ignored the pain in her arm... easier than the pain she felt when Naruto didn't spring up and shout something annoying at her. Or act like an idiot.

"What... what could I have done different sensei?" She asked finally.

Kakashi remained silent. Not that she had expected him to be of any use.

"Nobody else even had a chance to stop Gaara!" She muttered. "I had to send him! I... even if he died, I would have to send him in. Is that it? Is that me taking responsibility? Sending my comrades into battle even if I know they'll die?" She turned around angrily and pointed at Kakashi.

A few droplets of blood actually reached his face. His totally empty face! She wanted to tear into him, but she barely managed to restrain herself.

She barely noticed Hinata gasping at her display.

"And you want me to do it without that persona? Why? Why do we have to..." She turned back to Naruto. "Damn it idiot. Why did you have to go and do this to yourself?" She asked him.

She closed her eyes. What could she do now?

"There's no way he can be healed?" She asked.

"Tsu..." Hinata spoke up, but Kakashi interrupted her. "There might be. But not here in Konoha, and you can't do anything about it."

She balled her fist, more blood ran down her arm. Idly she wondered when she would faint again.

"So, that's it. I fucked up and I have to just take it? Just stand there and accept it?" She asked, not even trying to keep the bitterness out of her voice.

"Sakura." Hinata whispered. Couldn't Kakashi have waited till she... till she... oh...

She looked at Hinata. Who else? Who else would be affected by Naruto's coma? By the fact that he probably would have to quit his career? Iruka probably, he had always been after Naruto, kinda like a big brother or maybe a even a father... she gulped.

The ramen stand owner and his daughter maybe? They liked Naruto as well... as small as that number was, it hurt all the more, because of how small that number was. She would have to tell them.

"I... I... Hinata, I'm sorry." She said finally.

"You don't need to be sorry Sakura." Hinata quickly tried to deflect her apology. And maybe she didn't need to be sorry. But she was! And it was her responsibility as team leader to tell the people that cared about Naruto what happened.

Those that weren't there at any rate.

She looked at Kakashi and his face finally had warmed up again. He nodded quietly at her.

"Well, that's a good start I guess." He said. "I think we'll wait until after you have regained consciousness again to inform Naruto's other friends."

Huh? Conscious... the world faded again, god damn blood loss, she should have been more careful... even if it did give her a breather, a little one at least...

-o-

Here's the next chapter, hope you guys enjoy.

Thanks to ZuzVaiyo again for betaing.


	14. Preparations

Expectations of Development

-o-

Preparations

-o-

Sasuke stared at the white wall. Beside him Sakura slept. He tried not to look at her arm, thin lines covered the entire lower end, from her hand to her elbow.

The medics had finally healed the wounds, but they couldn't remove the scars that formed. Couldn't or wouldn't. They needed all the chakra they had for the more serious cases that still came into the hospital. The attack had been rather brutal and thanks to Orochimaru's spies the forces of Sand and Sound had known about every weak spot Konoha had to offer.

Idly he rubbed his own scar. He had been lucky, he could hide it easily and really even if he couldn't he didn't care all that much.

But girls did care about their appearances... and even if he wouldn't admit it out loud, so did he. He didn't mind looking at pretty girls, as long as they stayed silent and didn't bother him. After all, he would return the courtesy.

Of course, Sakura didn't stop bothering and annoying him. If only he could stop her. But something always stopped him, from stopping her.

He didn't know why exactly he couldn't just shove her away and put an end to her teasing.

He had his suspicions though. And he avoided thinking about them as much as possible, since acknowledging them led to some very uncomfortable places.

He most assuredly didn't want Sakura to act like that! Especially not with him!

His eyes were drawn to Sakura as she twitched slightly. But she didn't move much afterward, so he focused on the wall again.

The scars on her arm didn't look that bad anyway, kinda like a weird tattoo, the medics could do that at least. He blinked and shook his head. No matter how often it happened lately, it always surprised him, when he thought about Sakura like that. Or Ino... or any other female!

He had to focus on Itachi damn it. He had to become stronger, to beat him!

He grinned as he thought back to the fight with Shukaku. Sure, he hadn't done all that much, but he could claim that he helped bring down one of the tailed demons at age twelve. Alright, closer to thirteen, but still. Itachi couldn't claim that... he could only claim the murder of a clan. Sasuke could claim having protected his entire village from a rampaging demon. Not alone, but meh. He doubted even Itachi could have pulled it off alone.

Looking at his hands he sighed. Would Itachi have fainted? Would he have contributed more?

In the end Sasuke had just made sure that Sakura and Ino got close to Gaara. An important job and if he considered what would have happened if he hadn't been there.

Sakura would have almost certainly fallen unconscious far sooner, from the wounds of the wire, to the wounds from the trees. She would have dropped the rope with Ino and Choji, so even if she had managed to go face to face with Gaara she would have been alone up there. No Ino to take over Gaara's body.

In the end, his position might not have been the most glamorous. But just like Choji's it had been one of the most important ones. He snorted, as if the other positions hadn't been just as important. From what the others had told him, Naruto would have been crushed far earlier without Team eight.

Without Naruto to focus Shukaku's attention the damn demon would probably have focused his attention on them so much faster, instead of when it had been far too late for him to do so.

He balled his hands into fists. Naruto, he glanced at the boy resting in another bed. They had applied some more seals to him, in order to suppress the nine tail's chakra totally, after the medics sealed his chakra coils, to prevent the chakra from slowly dripping out of him. He would live, but if he regained consciousness like this...

Sasuke shuddered, he wouldn't wish that on Itachi... well maybe on Itachi. For a while at least.

"Damn it idiot. Why did you have to go and do that?" He growled. Hinata looked up from her corner of Naruto's bed and smiled at him softly.

Sasuke turned away. Her smiles made him uncomfortable, they seemed to imply way too much.

The door to the hospital room opened and Sasuke could see Neji.

The boy glanced at Sakura, his eyes focused on her arm for a second and he winced. He quickly turned to Hinata.

"Hinata-sama, your father says you have to return to the Hyuuga complex, for the funeral. I'm to be your escort." He growled the last part.

Sasuke idly wondered what that was about, but he didn't dwell on it. It was none of his business.

Hinata sighed and pushed herself up. She squeezed Naruto's hand and nodded at Neji. "Lead the way." She said, confident, for as long as Neji didn't glare at her.

As soon as the eyes of her cousin met hers though, she shrank back into herself.

After they left Sasuke turned to Naruto. "You really should wake up, your girlfriend seems to need your confidence..." As soon as he said it he realized just how stupid that had been.

Hinata might need Naruto's confidence, she certainly didn't need his pained screaming. And that would be all he could emit, for as long as his chakra coils were as damaged as they were.

But Hinata had mentioned that there were ways to heal him. Well, one way really. The others weren't too likely to work, or would just unleash something like the Kyuubi on the world again. Or at least make it more likely that it could somehow unleash itself on the world.

He glanced at Sakura again. Hopefully she woke up soon. He had asked Kakashi what they could do to wake Naruto, Kakashi had said that Jirayia had a plan, but they would wait for Sakura to wake up, since it was her orders that led to Naruto crippling himself.

After Sasuke growled at him he conceded that he had some fault himself, for sending genin after Gaara, but he wasn't currently sleeping off a rather badly damaged arm.

Sakura's parents had been here as soon as they were released from the shelters. They had cried over their daughter, fussed over her unconscious form, but in the end they left again. Having to see after the damage to their home and get their lives back in order.

Sasuke thought they should spend more time with their daughter... but after watching her sleep for more than a few hours he had to admit that he didn't particularly feel like watching either. It was boring. And only the fact that he didn't have anything to do prompted him to stay.

Training had been prohibited, since the village needed to keep an eye on everybody. His apartment had been untouched by the invasion, though he didn't have any water. Another reason to stay at the hospital, they had water. Cold maybe, but water. He could wash here at least.

He sighed again. If nothing happened soon he would go insane with boredom.

-o-

Libido grumbled to himself as he fed family. Teamwork had forbidden him from joining the latest battle.

She had mumbled something about there being a time and a place for his involvement and that this battle was neither the time, nor the place and that he should stay far, far away from it.

He had agreed, after much fruitless cajoling. Teamwork had stayed adamant. Still, he had snuck out after her and managed to watch the brewing battle. The first thing he realized upon seeing the assembled army of Itachis, was the fact that for once they weren't after teamwork, him or family. No, for once they were after an outside foe.

Somebody that really riled pride up, judging by the way he strutted up and down and shouted insults at everybody.

Then Teamwork showed up. Libido couldn't hear a thing, he didn't want to be anywhere close to that army, Teamwork had been right about that at least.

But as soon as Teamwork showed up she handed pride his ass and took charge of the army. She didn't give a rousing speech, at least it didn't look like she gave one. She merely talked to the Itachis for a minute or so, then they all moved out.

Libido followed them. He had no idea why the Itachis would suddenly follow Teamwork, instead of fighting like usual. As they met their enemy he still couldn't understand it. They faced off against one little boy. A weird boy, that seemed really strange, but not somebody you needed to be afraid off.

In fact... hadn't Libido seen the boy not hours before? Being beaten around by a single Itachi?

Why would you suddenly need an army for that? But this time the boy warped and twisted, his attacks ripped into the Itachis and though he couldn't even dent their numbers, he certainly managed to keep them at bay. Suddenly teamwork moved in, cut through his defenses as if they didn't even exist and decapitated the boy.

It seemed overly harsh and Libido didn't like the way it looked as if Teamwork had switched sides. But the boy did give off the wrong kind of vibes, like the Itachis but much much worse. The Itachis wanted to control everything, this boy? It almost felt as if he wanted to destroy everything.

Teamwork turned her back on him for a second, a satisfied grin on her face.

Libido wanted to shout at her, wanted to tell her to turn around. But he didn't need to, one of the Itachis had done his job for him already.

Teamwork avoided the swipe of the gigantic claw easily. The Itachis next to her? Not so much.

Libido grimaced, if he had been in that battle? He would have just distracted Teamwork. She cared for him, somewhat, more than for the Itachis at least. And now it took all she had not to be squashed like a bug, by the monster that had somehow appeared.

But Teamwork moved magnificently. She deftly avoided every swiped, jumped higher, faster than Libido had ever seen her move. And her every attack cut deeply into the monster.

Until one of it's claws managed to rake over her back, slamming her into the ground hard. She managed to catch herself with one hand, but she paid for that with a broken arm.

Libido winced, that had to hurt. A quick glance at the army of Itachis confirmed that, no matter how badly Teamwork did, the army did far, far worse. They were slaughtered not by the dozens, not even by the hundreds, they were killed by the thousands.

Teamwork somehow managed to stay in the fight though, she threw some sort of attack at the monster, Libido couldn't see exactly. But it stopped the monster in its tracks.

Immediately afterward Teamwork fell unconscious. Grimacing Libido raced forward, he couldn't leave her to the mercies of the Itachis, he knew they wouldn't have any.

He stopped short as the monster moved again. How? Why?

No... the monster changed back into the boy, but Libido was sure the boy wasn't any less dangerous, just because the monster had retreated.

And Teamwork... Teamwork stood again, her hair had changed color again though. A brilliant blond this time, she stood before the boy and held his eyes.

Something tugged at Libido, he looked at the sky and the encroaching darkness. He hated the darkness, it meant things went very wrong, almost always. It wasn't like the night, which was bad enough, the Itachis came out in force at night, sometimes. But this darkness, the Itachis had come after such a darkness. He had to get Teamwork out of here and fast, before he couldn't see anything anymore.

Rushing through the battlefield he killed any Itachi he came across, it was far more than he felt comfortable with, but soon he came upon Teamwork. She stood there, surrounded by row after row of Itachis. She glanced at him in surprise for a second, then shook her head, a fond smile on her face.

"Thanks for coming, but I don't need your help." She shouted at him, cutting down all Itachis between them with a single slash.

Libido felt his eye twitch. He wouldn't be jealous, just because she could do that and he couldn't. He would grow up, sooner or later.

Glancing around he noticed that the Itachis didn't seem all that interested in actually fighting Teamwork. They seemed to have an odd sort of... respect for her?

"Lets go." Teamwork said easily. "They won't stop us. Not now at least."

She marched through the rows of Itachis, imperiously, tall and confident.

Libido licked his lips. It felt wrong to leave so many Itachis at their back, and what about the strange kid?

"It's not our problem anymore. We did all we could. It's in somebody else's hand now. All we can do is trust that person to pull through."

Libido frowned. "Who's that?" He asked.

Teamwork shrugged. "I have no idea, I just know we don't have a choice.

-o-

"Ugh." Sakura groaned as she slowly returned to the land of the living. She wondered why she couldn't stop waking up in the hospital. If this continued they would have a room reserved for her at the end of the year.

Though that did have a certain appeal, it meant she wouldn't have to worry about mistakes the doctors made because they didn't know her.

She looked around the room, Sasuke sat beside her an eyebrow raised as he looked at her.

Naruto laid in another bed, sleeping she guessed. Luckily, if he had been awake he would have... she remembered why he had to sleep. She almost fell out of the bed, caught hopelessly in her sheets, as she tried to sprint to the bathroom.

Another tradition she could have done without.

Sasuke remained seated, he simply watched as she stumbled into the small wash stand and retched into the toilet.

Just as she expected, not much came out. Her stomach probably didn't have much solid food since...

Wiping her mouth she stood up and spit the small residue of bile into the toilet.

"How long have I been out?" She asked Sasuke. She hated the way her voice shook, but she couldn't do much about that.

Sasuke shrugged, clearly uncomfortable. "Two days. You didn't miss much."

Sakura nodded, good. She would hate to have missed a second invasion or something.

Her eyes fell on her right arm. The bandages had been removed, revealing the cross pattern of the wires. The medics had somehow managed to put the skin back together, mostly, but still the scars marred the entire arm, once perfect... ok decent, skin marred with thin white lines.

Sighing she looked at Sasuke. "You got some bandages on you? Or at least know where some are?"

He raised an eyebrow but nodded nevertheless. "There are some in your nightstand."

Sakura quickly opened the door on the little cabinet and fished out the white gauze. She had wrapped the scars quickly, beneath a thin layer of fabric.

"Ok, any news about Naruto? Anything on how we can help him?" She asked Sasuke.

He looked at her, then slowly shook his head.

"Damn." She looked down, she wouldn't cry, not in front of Sasuke.

"Jirayia has a plan, but I don't know what it is... or if there's any real chance that it will work." Sasuke spoke up.

Sakura's head whipped around. "He has?"

Sasuke shrugged. Which was about as much confirmation as she would get out of him.

"He'll tell us about it once the funeral is over... convenient that you woke up right now actually." Sasuke frowned at the door.

He pointed at a pack at the end of her bed. "There are some clothes, in case you actually woke up early enough."

"Funeral? What happened?" Sakura asked confused. Sure, there had to be a lot of dead people, but why would she have to...

"Who died?" She asked, dread slowly filling her. Her parents couldn't have, wouldn't have...

Sasuke sighed sadly. "The Hokage fought Orochimaru... the snake managed to kill him."

She could feel her eyes widen. The Hokage was dead? But... that... "How?" She whispered.

Shrugging Sasuke looked out of the window. "He was old is my guess. He's been able to cripple Orochimaru... at least that's what I've heard in the village, but in the end Orochimaru had been younger and stronger."

Sakura nodded sadly. She glanced at Naruto, who couldn't even attend the funeral of the Hokage. She didn't know much about their relation ship, but Naruto had liked the man a lot.

If she hadn't... she quickly shook that thought out of her head. If she hadn't taken Naruto with her, then what? He would have faced off against Orochimaru and lost his life as well? Her and the others would have failed to stop Gaara and he would have killed them all and rampaged through Konoha?

She had done what she could, nothing more, nothing less. She had to look towards the future, not the past.

"When is the funeral?" She asked quietly.

Sasuke glanced at the clock. "In half an hour." He said and Sakura could hear just how tired he actually was, no matter how much he tried to hide it.

She nodded and grabbed the package. She briefly entertained the thought of putting it on here and now. But she dismissed the though almost violently. It would have been disrespectful and so utterly wrong.

Instead she walked into the small stall and changed there.

She didn't hurt anymore, Konoha's medics were the best after all, but she felt incredibly tired, tired an drained. As she stepped out of the stall her eyes fell on Naruto in his bed again. Several flowers were arrayed around him and cards proclaimed that he should get better soon.

She wondered briefly from who, then she realized that they were from the other teams. She even saw a little turtle, that must have been from team Gai... at least from Lee and Tenten. She doubted Neji could remove that stick up his ass far enough.

She glanced at her own bed, where she found a similar spread. Maybe a bit more even.

She smiled slightly. His stunt had bought Naruto at least some admiration from his peers.

"Shall we go?" She asked Sasuke, who nodded in answer. She noticed him glancing at her. "Something wrong?"

"Do you need help?" He asked, sounding slightly worried.

She could tell him yes and lean on him. But... she wouldn't show that kind of weakness in front of him, not to mention that she didn't need him to walk. "No, I'm fine." She said, walking confidently, or at least without any major difficulties out of the room. "Just lead the way." She had a pretty good guess where the funeral would be held, but depending on the damage the village had sustained...

-o-

Jirayia watched the two old bags of bones in front of him. He didn't like them, they were so bloody responsible.

"I'm not Hokage material and you know it." He said once again. Maybe it would stick this time?

"You are the only one we have." The old hag countered.

"You should ask Tsunade. She'd do much better than me." Jirayia said. And she was the only chance to heal Naruto too. He bet they knew that too.

The old bastard nodded. "Yes, but nobody knows where she is. She's quite good at evading our men. And she doesn't want the position any more than you do."

Jirayia nodded slowly. "I can find her though."

They looked at each other. "You can?" The hag asked, slightly incredulous.

He wished they wouldn't play this game, but appearances had to be kept, on all their parts.

"Yes I can, and I can get her to come back too." He answered. He hoped so at least. For all their sake. They needed a Hokage and not him. He was far too irresponsible and he really didn't want the position anyway.

"What about Uzumaki?" The bastard asked.

Jirayia stared at him. "What about him? He stays at the Hospital until we bring Tsunade back."

The bastard narrowed his eyes at Jirayia. "And what about that organization the Hokage told you to watch?" He asked.

Jirayia nodded slowly, he hadn't forgotten about them. Good thing he planed on the old man mentioning it.

"How many people know just how badly Naruto has been hurt?" He asked.

"The genin with him, the medic who treated him first and the other medics... as well as him." The hag said slowly.

"And of course Kakashi... probably the other jonin as well. All people loyal to Konoha correct?" Jirayia asked smiling.

They nodded slowly. "Then we can just hide him in the hospital. One of his teammates will come with me, masquerading as Naruto. If they do go after him... they'll follow me, instead of searching the hospital."

The two looked at each other. "You think they'll fall for that?"

He shrugged. "If he hadn't been hurt like that I would have taken him with me. And in any case, we need Tsunade, I'm the only one who can find her, I can't stay here, I can't take him with me."

The looked at each other and nodded slowly.

"What about Gaara?" The bastard asked finally.

Jirayia frowned, what did he care? "Slit his throat for all I care, just don't hand him over instead of Naruto. If them getting Naruto is bad, them getting Gaara is just as bad."

"It's not that easy. Sand sent a message this morning. They found the Kazekage."

Jirayia raised an eyebrow. "So?"

"He was dead. Apparently Orochimaru killed him a while ago."

Jirayia rolled his eyes. "Before they planned to invade or after?"

The hag sniffed. "We can't afford a war. And you know that quite well. With Akatsuki looming, Orochimaru and Sound, the other villages knowing about our weakness. We have no Hokage and our Jinchuriki is in a coma."

Jirayia looked away. He knew that, didn't mean he had to like it.

"It's an excuse, a feeble one really. But we will take it, it's the only thing we can do. And Gaara will be a valuable bargaining chip." The bastard said.

"I hope Naruto and his teammates will get the appropriate recognition for capturing him then." Jirayia glared at them.

They stared at him for a second and nodded. "At least A-Rank pay." They agreed.

"Please, as if that's enough. He burned himself out stopping Shukaku. The least you can do is spread the word... after he's recovered of course."

They looked at each other and shrugged. "That's not a problem. Binding him closer to Konoha has always been desirable. But without something to really use for his case..."

Jirayia grimaced, they had a point. Even if they wanted to integrate Naruto better into the village, his attention seeking stunts weren't exactly endearing. Luckily with his actions in the invasion they had some real leverage. The fact that the other genin now knew about him and supported him anyway...

"For the record, we think this plan is foolhardy, desperate and will most likely fail." The hag muttered.

Rolling his eyes, Jirayia shrugged. "But you don't have a better Idea. Just make sure you have some of your better people guard Naruto. And make sure Danzo's people aren't the ones doing the guarding."

Their faces hardened as they nodded.

"We would prefer to keep him out of it yes. He's too... eager." The bastard said.

Jirayia snorted. Danzo wasn't too eager, he was a power hungry warmonger. Sadly not a stupid power hungry warmonger.

"I'll go talk with Naruto's teammates then, make sure Konoha doesn't fall to pieces while I'm gone."

For the first time in the conversation a small smile graced the lips of the hag, making her almost human. "Don't worry kid. We have helped Hiruzen rule Konoha for years. A few weeks without him won't bring us down."

The smile disappeared again. "Still hurry. The longer we are without a Hokage the worse morale gets. We can't afford to be without one for long... if you take too long then..."

She didn't need to finish the sentence. The only candidate with enough power and experience they had left also happened to be a power hungry warmonger.

-o-

Temari stared at Baki as if he had gone insane. "Could you repeat that please?" She whispered.

"The council considers you a candidate for Kazekage." He said calmly.

Temari had thought so, were they insane? Her? She hadn't even managed to finish the genin tournaments for fucks sake.

"Why?" She asked him.

"You showed more political smarts than every other person involved when you tried to call the invasion off. You are related to the last Kazekage and you are one of our more powerful genin." Baki answered, not the slightest bit of emotion showing on his face.

"That's just it! Genin! I'm a genin! Why would they want a genin as Kazekage!" Temari shouted at him in utter disgust.

"There's nothing in the laws that says that you have to be a jonin to..." Baki started but Temari interrupted him.

"Bullshit! Now tell me the truth, why do they want me as Kazekage!" She screamed in his face.

Baki slumped and looked away. "We actually don't have that many candidates left. Of all our ninja you have the highest potential. You aren't there yet, not even close to your peak. But you can surpass me easily... maybe even in a few years."

Temari wanted to strangle the man but kept herself back. It wouldn't help, it wouldn't help at all.

"The truth! I asked for the truth!" She managed to restrain herself much better this time.

"They want a puppet. You don't have the raw power to resist them. And the first part is actually the truth. We don't have anybody actually more qualified for the position. The council will have control as you grow into the position, you will be trained by the best teachers we can get, you are related to Gaara... and you actually care somewhat about him. If we can get him back from Konoha, having you as a leader would probably help keep him under control much better." He took a breath.

Temari still stared at him. "You are all insane! I'm not Kage material. Hell Gaara would make a better Kage than me! At least he has the power to be one!"

Baki smiled slightly. "But you have the right personality. I think the council won't find the puppet they expect in you."

"Kankuro would so joke about this you know?" She sighed. Dejectedly. What should she do?

"Maybe, but you still have time, if they decide to choose you anyway. There are other candidates after all. You aren't the first choice. To be honest you are the last choice. Don't expect to be actually called. You were mentioned, the possibility was accepted and you were taken into the list of candidates, nothing more." Baki shrugged.

Temari exhaled, that sounded much better than: 'You might be chosen as the next Kazekage.' As Baki had put it first.

"Why didn't you say it like that the first time?" She grumbled as she looked back at the mirror, carefully using her chakra to clean her hair. If the pink bitch could do it, so could she.

The girl somehow managed to take on Gaara! As Shukaku even!

Sure, she had help from her own Jinchuriki, but still. She barely even hesitated. And Temari wouldn't loose to the little bitch.

"I wanted to see your reaction." Baki shrugged. "Oh, also Kankuro has heard of it as well. He's convinced that you will become Kazekage and have him executed the first time he opens his mouth now."

Temari chuckled. Her brother always had to exaggerate everything. "Maybe it would be worth becoming Kazekage just to have something to shut him up with."

Baki smiled slightly then looked at the mirror. "What are you doing anyway?"

"Chakra training, I'm doing my hair with chakra... it's difficult." But worthwhile. The hair she had cleaned and strengthen with chakra looked so much better now! The pink bitch had been absolutely right, once you had this down, not only did you train your control, you also had awesome hair.

Baki raised an eyebrow. "I can see that. How long did it take to come this far?"

Temari grumbled. It had taken her over an hour to get one tenth of her hair done. She had become faster though, slightly. "Long enough. I've just started out though. I'll get faster."

"I see." He said and turned around. "I have some other duties. You can rest some more. The village isn't in the best state at the moment. But there isn't really much we can do to make it better." He sighed and Temari could hear the resignation out of his voice.

The attack had cost the village much. Many ninja had been killed, even more wounded. Their reputation had taken a heavy beating and only their position in the middle of a desert saved them from an attack by other villages.

"Baki?" She spoke up.

She didn't turn around, but she could see him in the mirror. He had stopped, his hand on the door handle.

"If they do decide to make me Kazekage... don't tell them that I won't be their meek puppet. I want it to be a surprise."

He smirked and nodded. "As you wish."

She returned her attention to her hair. She desperately hoped they weren't that foolish, that they found somebody more suited to the position. But if they actually made that mistake? Well, she would be the best damn Kazekage she could be! Council be damned.

-o-

Sakura leaned on Sasuke as they walked away from the funeral. Kakashi had excused himself almost immediately afterward, just like all the jonin and chunin had. Probably to grieve with a glass in hand.

Sadly Sakura couldn't do that, the village had taken too much damage and for once nobody would sell anything to children. Not that she really wanted to drink, she recognized the start of an addiction. She wanted to drown her fears in alcohol. And if she started now... she wouldn't stop anytime soon. Of that she had no doubt, none at all.

"Sasuke?" She asked tiredly.

"Hn?" He answered, looking straight ahead.

"Do you think Naruto will be fine?"

She could feel him stiffen under her, but a second later he continued walking.

"He'll be fine." He said, with enough conviction that she almost believed him. "One way or the other he'll be fine."

Smiling she rested her head on his shoulder. She felt so tired. And not because she suffered from chakra exhaustion, or even just plain exhaustion.

The funeral, not just for the Hokage but for all ninja that had fallen, had drained her. So many candles had been lit to represent the fallen.

She hadn't even realized just how many ninja Konoha actually fielded. She worked with so few of them. And now she had so many fewer to work with.

The funeral had affected Sasuke too. He didn't even try to push her away. Though that could be attributed to her not trying anything.

Ino and her team had stood there as well, crying.

And Konohamaru, Naruto's little friend. He had asked her were Naruto was, why he wasn't at the funeral.

Sakura couldn't have told him the truth, so she said the closest thing to it. Naruto had been wounded heavily and couldn't leave the hospital yet. He would recover quickly though and play with Konohamaru soon.

She should have told the boy the truth, but... he had just lost his grandfather. He couldn't loose Naruto too. But that reminded her. "Sasuke, can we go to Ichiraku's?" She asked.

"Why?" He looked down at her, but he changed his course slightly.

"I have to tell them." Sakura muttered.

He remained quiet for a few seconds. "You could tell them later." He said.

"Or not at all." Jirayia had somehow appeared beside them.

"What? I have to! Kakashi said." She started to protest, but Jirayia went over her protests as if they didn't exist.

"That might be true, and if this were normal circumstances I would applaud your decision to face this head on, but these aren't normal circumstances." He glanced around and Sakura could feel a genjutsu spring over them.

"Not the best, never been very good at genjutsu but for our purposes it will do." Jirayia muttered.

"As you may, or may not, know there's a healer that should be capable of healing Naruto. Coincidentally she's also the best candidate for Hokage we have." He started.

Both her and Sasuke perked up immediately. It actually felt as if she had just eaten a soldier pill.

"I'm going to go and search for her. And I'm taking one of you with me." He glanced at the two of them.

"I'm partial to Sasuke, since he's already male." He added.

Sakura blinked, what the hell? Glancing at Sasuke she noted that he had the same reaction.

"Eh? Why's that important?" She voiced the question.

"Because there are people after Naruto." Jirayia looked at them seriously. Sakura also noted that he looked at Sasuke just a little bit longer. She didn't think Sasuke missed that. "And the one who comes with me will play Naruto on the way."

They continued walking through the village in silence for a while.

"What about Naruto?" Asked Sasuke finally.

Jirayia shrugged. "He'll be in the hospital, under constant guard. Hopefully the guard won't be necessary and we'll manage to fool them into following us. I'll have to talk with Kakashi and the other Jonin about keeping Naruto's condition a secret, but I trust they'll be able not to let anything slip."

Sakura looked at Sasuke who frowned slightly. And what was she supposed to do while he and Jirayia gallivanted around the country?

"I want to come with you." She said.

Jirayia looked down at her and she shrank together. It reminded her a bit too much of Kakashi's look after she woke up the first time. And her demand for the other genin.

"I mean, we are a team. Wouldn't it make more sense for all of us to go?" She added quickly.

Jirayia chuckled indulgently. "Maybe, but just you and Naruto would look strange wouldn't it?" He asked.

"We know shadowclones." Sasuke reminded Jirayia quietly and Sakura shot him a grateful look.

"And you aren't that good with them. Only Sasuke can actually make one, that doesn't immediately fail." Jirayia pointed out.

"I... I want to do something for Naruto. If we follow your plan, then I can't, can't even..." she looked at the ground.

Jirayia sighed. "Well, the plan isn't entirely without merit. Tell you what, if Sasuke can show me a perfect Naruto shadowclone tomorrow, if only just for a few minutes, then we can take you with us and pretend we are a team. I'll go clear that with the council of two." Sakura blinked, the council of two? Who was he talking about.

"Of course, Sasuke has to agree as well." Jirayia added.

Sasuke shrugged. "We are a team." Sakura smiled thankfully at him.

Jirayia nodded slowly. "It could work better than the alternative." He looked at Sasuke again. "Much better even."

-o-

Sasuke stood in the middle of his apartment, Sakura and Kakashi on one side of him, Jirayia on the other. In front of him stood a carbon copy of Naruto, grinning the same stupid grin he always grinned.

Sasuke idly wondered what it felt like for his clone, to grin like that. He imagined he could hear it grind it's teeth.

Jirayia turned to Sakura. "Ok, that's ten minutes that he's managed to keep the clone up."

Sasuke snorted, though he immediately dispelled the clone. It had drained him a lot. And if he wanted to keep it up for much longer he would have to rest a bit.

"Ok, you guys have packed for the journey I assume?" Jirayia asked them, both nodded quickly.

Kakashi looked at them, his face unreadable. "Good, Kakashi is in charge of keeping Naruto safe, though I think his little girlfriend also tried to involve herself in that." Jirayia grinned at them.

"She failed by the way." Kakashi spoke up blandly. "She might be good, but this requires a bit more than good."

Jirayia nodded. "I'm taking you two with me to fool any people who think Naruto's vulnerable, now that Konoha is weakened. Not because I think you can help me bring Tsunade back."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. Whatever he said, Sasuke didn't care. They went with him because that might make the difference between luring whoever was after Naruto away. Not because they thought... he looked at Sakura, who glowered darkly at Jirayia. Ok, he didn't think they would help Jirayia bring Tsunade back. Sakura might actually think differently.

"And you think you can bring her back?" Sakura asked the man.

"I was her teammate, of course I can..." Jirayia agreed.

"Yeah, we've seen just how well that worked with Orochimaru." Sakura interrupted him. Only to shut her mouth almost immediately. "I... I mean..." She stuttered.

Sasuke had noticed that she had become even more erratic since Naruto's accident. She acted more and more irrational and her temper had skyrocketed.

And he had only half a day to notice it! Damn. He even agreed to a week or two of this.

"I can keep you here you know?" Jirayia asked with deceptive calm.

Sakura nodded her head. "Sorry, it's just..." Kakashi stepped beside Sakura and laid a hand on her shoulder.

"She's still stressed because of Naruto." He said calmly. "Don't hold it too much against her."

Jirayia snorted. "I'm stressed about him too. I'm not letting it show."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Would you have when you were her age?" He asked.

Jirayia glanced at him, his face drawn into a grimace. "Feh, fine I'll forgive you kid. But keep yourself better under control. We can't have you freak out at a merchant or something."

Sakura nodded quickly, her temper back under control again and now twice as meek as before. Sasuke hated that, couldn't she just pick one mood and stay there? Preferably not frisky as well, he had some problems with frisky. He usually couldn't open his mouth to tell her to go away. Not anymore at least. Curiously he didn't miss the times when he could much.

It would still be annoying, a bit.

"Ok, then lets go. Kakashi. Make sure the brat's safe eh?" Jirayia said.

Kakashi grinned for the first time today. "You can count on me."

Sasuke nodded, Kakashi hadn't let them down yet. Send them on a suicide mission? Yes. Let them down? No.

Well actually that chunin had sent him on the suicide mission, Kakashi had just sent Sakura after him. That Sakura had interpreted it as stop Gaara at all cost hadn't been his fault.

"Sasuke, one Naruto please... and remember, he can't shut up." Jirayia grinned at him.

Sasuke suddenly realized just what Jirayia asked of him. He would have to be Naruto, maybe for hours!

He whimpered as his hands came together in a seal and a slightly panicked shadowclone appeared in front of him. His eyes conveyed the horror at what he would do in mere seconds, but Sasuke knew his mission. And a little acting wouldn't stop him.

"Hey Sasuke." His clone said a second later, with Naruto's voice.

Sasuke shuddered, he would never feel clean again, but sacrifices had to be made for your teammates. Naruto had proven it, by burning himself out.

"Let's go already! I'm bored." The Naruto clone shouted. Earning himself and Sasuke raised eyebrows.

"A bit overdone?" The clone asked.

He received nods from everybody. "Tone it down just a bit Sasuke." Kakashi said.

The clone nodded and shrugged. "Sure thing. So, do you think they have ramen wherever we are going?" The clone asked excitedly.

Jirayia looked at Sasuke. "You found a way to pay me back for making you do this already haven't you?" He asked bitterly.

Sasuke for once didn't smirk. He had to listen to this too! Why would the pervert think he enjoyed this?

Sakura sighed. "Let's just go! The faster we are out of the village the faster he can dispel the clone."

Kakashi grinned at them all. "It's not that bad. I mean Naruto's kinda like that as well."

Sakura growled at him. "But Naruto somehow manages to be endearing. Sasuke just makes you want to kill him."

Oi!

"Yes." Jirayia agreed. "There's something that makes it bearable in Naruto's case. Sasuke just misses that something."

Hey!

"Well I suppose that's true." Kakashi agreed, nodding his head sagely.

"You are all assholes!" The clone howled angrily and sat down petulantly, before his face scrunched up in confusion and he quickly dispelled himself.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, what the hell?

And it hit him, the clone had liked acting like that. He had liked saying utterly stupid things, liked acting like a little fool, liked being petulant!

Sasuke's eyes widened. Oh god, he liked being Naruto! No, no he didn't, couldn't like being like Naruto, calm down, think!

"Oh? Did you notice something Sasuke?" Kakashi asked curiously.

Sasuke blinked at the man, before a second revelation hit him, how did he know what the clone felt? That would mean...

He quickly created another clone and send him out of the room. A second later he had his confirmation, as the hazy memories of walking out of the room arrived.

They weren't very clear, and they were fading already. But he did remember walking out of the room.

"We remember what the clones remember." He whispered. He glanced at Sakura, who looked at him, a frown on her face, before she slowly nodded.

"That would explain how Naruto knew all that stuff back in the fight." She said. "I had wondered, but, with all that's been happening."

Sasuke nodded, he had wondered too, but he hadn't thought about it anymore. Too much other stuff demanded his attention.

"Well, now you know." Jirayia said. "Be careful and don't rely on it in combat. The memories are hazy, and unclear for the most part. If the clone does what you do they integrate better, if he does something else they won't integrate as well and confuse you. The more clones you use the bigger the confusion." He wagged his finger. "Some users even report information overload."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. Would that even be possible?

Jirayia shrugged. "But I doubt it would be a danger. Memory is strange stuff, and nobody knows how it actually works. And anyway, before it becomes an issue you would drop from chakra exhaustion." He rubbed his chin. "Maybe Naruto would have to worry about it."

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "I don't think so, he's got more than enough room for extra knowledge in that head of his. He left it very empty during his academy years." She grinned evilly. "In fact, once he's back on his feet I'll make him read all the basic academy texts with his shadowclones. We can test that theory then."

Jirayia chuckled. "Just make sure to start small, in case it's actually true. Anyway Sasuke could you summon the clone again? And make sure to not dispel it yes? We want to be on our way. The more we hurry the less you have to play Naruto."

Sasuke nodded as he summoned another clone. The less he played Naruto the better, he might be able to avoid thinking about why he liked it then.

-o-

Gaara woke up. And for once he didn't hear a voice whispering demands for blood into his mind.

He frowned, as he tried to orient himself. He felt strange. Slowly he pushed himself from the bunk and tried to look around.

But the room, he assumed that he found himself in a room at least, beds usually didn't stand in caves after all. The room had no light source at all. He tried gathering his chakra, for a fire technique, but he noticed immediately that he had absolutely no chakra available. None. He tried grasping for Shukaku's chakra, but he couldn't touch that either.

He blinked, if he had no chakra, shouldn't he feel worse? He examined himself as much as he could, which involved mostly touching himself.

He didn't have his sand armor anymore, but that didn't surprise him, without chakra no sand. He blinked, that meant... that meant... his mind shied away from the thought.

Where was he? That thought seemed safer, much safer.

He tried to remember what had happened, before he... before he... fell... he fell asleep?

He blinked and looked around. As expected he could only see darkness. But, if he were still asleep, he would know it. Shukaku would gloat... and he didn't. He didn't even demand blood...

Gaara took a deep breath. The air tasted stale, used. But not nearly as bad as he expect it would taste in hell. So he probably hadn't died. In fact, he had fought those genin from Konoha... and they made him fall asleep. Then they somehow managed to wake him up again. He grunted in surprise, they had managed to wake him up after Shukaku had fully formed.

He stumbled back into his bunk. How had they done that? Why hadn't Shukaku simply squashed them?

He shook his head. Shukaku wouldn't tell him. He frowned, what had happened then?

The blond girl and her teammate! They had attacked him, and the fat guy, he had somehow beaten the Gaara's attack, shielding the girl, who had then attacked Gaara somehow.

And suddenly... suddenly Gaara found himself in his home, surrounded by the dead, the long dead and not just those from his Suna.

He cowered in his bunk as he remembered the faces. He had to kill them! He had to mother... no, not mother, Shukaku, Shukaku demanded the blood. And if Gaara hadn't killed them they would have killed Gaara.

Most of them anyway. Gaara stared into the darkness for a few minutes, trying desperately to think of nothing. After a minute he gave up. He could only see the faces, staring at him accusingly.

"Think of something else." He whispered to himself. "Like the girl, she was there as well."

Yes, the girl. She had appeared in the plaza as well. And Shukaku, chained. Gaara snorted. Chained with a rusty weak chain, that could barely hold him back. A chain Gaara had to reinforce constantly, or Shukaku would take over his mind.

He had shouted at the girl, and Shukaku had shouted too... Gaara didn't remember too clearly actually. And really, what he said wasn't all that important anyway.

What the girl did however, his eyes widened as the memory came to him, what the girl did... she applied her own chains to Shukaku, she just looked at the demon and suddenly several more chains held Shukaku firmly in place, negating any danger he could pose to Gaara.

Gaara remembered the confusion and the shock as she chained the demon so... casually. And her chains were so strong, much stronger than Gaara's chain.

He grinned as he thought back to the event. She stood confidently, strong, the wind whipping her loose tunic around her. Shukaku howled in the background and with the wave of her hand she stuffed Shukaku's snout with a sock.

Gaara stopped thinking and blinked. A sock? She stuffed silenced Shukaku with a sock? "Hehehe..." He chuckled quietly. He remembered doing the same thing back then... in... in his mind? "Hahaha!" He laughed louder now. She had somehow invaded his mind and utterly crushed the demon that terrorized Gaara for years and years on end. "HAHAHAHA!" He laughed loudly in his cell, and he realized something else, that feeling he had? The strange way... he couldn't explain it, the feeling was as alien to him as breathing air must be to a fish, but he actually didn't feel tired!

Somehow the girl had managed to give him a good night of sleep. Or sleep at all. And with her in control, Shukaku couldn't come out! Gaara howled in glee by now, he laughed so hard he cried, and if felt good. He, he couldn't remember ever laughing like this, just, just full of real happiness.

-o-

Outside the cell the guard raised an eyebrow as he heard laughter come from within. This had to be the first time, he ever heard somebody laugh in joy, after they woke up in a prison cell.

After they attacked the village they were now imprisoned in.

He glanced at his colleague in confusion, but the man just shrugged, as confused as he himself felt.

"Just get Ibiki." He said and glanced uneasily at the door. "The prisoner is awake now after all."

-o-

Gaara slowly calmed down again, they had talked then. And the girl said she wouldn't kill him. Since he found himself here, alive she held her word... he supposed none of her friends had died then. He frowned, somehow that made him glad. He didn't want her mad at him.

He blinked again, he did that often since he woke up. Why didn't her want her mad at him?

Ok, it seemed like a bad idea to have the girl who could easily bypass his defenses mad him. In fact, that seemed like a spectacularly bad idea.

He giggled quietly and looked around again. He still couldn't see a thing of course, which meant he had no new information about his location. But considering what happened, he probably had been caught. And Konoha had somehow managed to negate the demon. And allowed him to catch some sleep.

Idly he wondered how long he had been asleep. It had to have been a while, considering that he hadn't slept much longer than a second since he had been born.

Nice of them really, much nicer than Suna at least.

Suddenly the room filled with light and Gaara quickly closed his eyes. The harsh contrast hurt quite a bit.

He jumped off his bunk and faced the sound of a door opening. He tried to summon his sand, but nothing happened. He should have expected that really.

Somebody snorted. "Good reaction at least... actually much faster than expected, but I'll chalk that up to you getting some sleep."

Frowning Gaara tried to open his eyes, but the light still made seeing difficult. He recognized that voice though. Even if he couldn't remember from where.

"Just for your information, we placed various seals on you that repress your demonic chakra. And the Hyuuga make sure that you don't have any access to your normal chakra. You are essentially utterly helpless." The voice said. Gaara could make out some shapes now at least, though that didn't help him recognize the man any.

"I..." He said, and his voice sounded weird as well. He leaned his head to the side, it wasn't his voice that was weird, it was the tone. He felt helpless and at the same time, he felt... he didn't know how to describe the feeling. "What's going to happen to me?" He asked quietly instead.

The man, Gaara could make out that much by now, leaned back at the wall. "If I had any say in the matter, which I might get, depending on your home villages behavior, you would get the full treatment. And I would extract every bit of information I can from you." The man frowned, as Gaara blinked a few times. His eyes had nearly gotten used to the light.

Somehow the threats didn't scare Gaara. He had no doubt the man could and would follow through, but once you had your own father try and assassinate you, threats like that just stopped being effective.

He nodded slowly. "But not now."

Ibiki, he had given them the first test, a month or so ago.

Ibiki nodded. "You might be useful, as a bargaining chip."

Gaara considered it, return to Suna, never sleep again. Stay here and potentially get a lot of sleep... dreamless sleep too.

"Can't I join you?" He asked, only joking slightly. Since when did he even get the concept of jokes? Man, this not being tired was awesome!

"After you tried to destroy the village?" Ibiki raised an eyebrow incredulous. "After you crippled one of our shinobi? After your village invaded ours?"

Gaara flinched with every word. Not as if he had any say in the matter. He looked down. If he still had Shukaku he might have tried to resist. Without him though, without even the slightest bit of chakra? Yeah right, he could fight without it. But really nobody had ever bothered to actually train him.

And just because you could fight, it didn't mean you were good at it.

"I suppose that's a no." He mumbled.

Ibiki snorted. "And we haven't even gotten into your value as a bargaining chip yet. But your willingness to betray your village has been noted."

Gaara looked at him. "How loyal would you be to a village that constantly tries to kill you? For something they did? Something over which you had no choice?" He growled the last part.

Ibiki didn't move an inch. Why should he though? Not as if Gaara posed any danger to him.

"Hmm..." He rubbed his chin. "I suppose those are good points. By the way, your father is dead."

Gaara blinked at the news. "Damn." He cursed.

"I thought you would be happy." Ibiki remarked blandly.

Gaara looked at him again. "I wanted to kill him. Now I can't."

Watching the man Gaara got the impression that whatever he said, the man would remember. He felt very glad that Suna might want him back, in one piece. And that Konoha seemed inclined to give him back. Though he would still prefer to stay in Konoha, at least their Jinchuriku seemed reasonably happy.

Maybe he could talk his way into their good graces? He opened his mouth, but closed it immediately. Him talk his way into the good graces of anybody? He stood a better chance of squeezing blood from a stone.

If his sand counted he could probably do it easily.

"Nothing to else to say?" Ibiki asked, deceptively mild.

Gaara looked away form him. He actually didn't have anything to say. He had no idea what to say, so he just shook his head.

Ibiki nodded. "Didn't expect much else. Well, as I said. You are lucky you have some worth. Your comrades we captured? Not so much." He smiled coldly and Gaara felt a shiver run down his spine. Would Konoha give Suna back a Jinchuriki? Something as powerful as him? Gaara hoped so, he very much hoped so.

Ibiki snorted and turned to the door. It had remained open the entire time. Gaara hadn't even considered running away.

A thought occurred to him. "What happened to the girl?" He asked.

Ibiki stopped. "Which one?" He asked.

"The one who... who entered my mind." Gaara answered.

Ibiki shrugged. "She has other duties, and none concern you."

Gaara nodded. "She's alright then. That's good." He smiled slightly. "What about the person I crippled... will they... will they survive?"

If the they didn't he had no doubt the girl would kill him. Or at least hate him and he didn't want that. He didn't want that a lot more than he ever wanted anything else.

Ibiki blinked in confusion. "He's left the village looking for a healer to fix him already. So I think it's safe to say he'll survive. The question is if he can ever fight again."

Gaara nodded slowly. He hoped whoever he crippled would recover. The girl would be much easier to deal with if he did.

"I... I hope he makes it." Gaara said out loud.

Ibiki stared at him for a long time. Finally he shook his head. "Me too. Try to get some more sleep. You still look like hell."

With that he walked out the door, it slammed shut behind him and the light turned off.

Gaara let himself fall back into his bunk. This had been, interesting. He closed his eyes, hoping to fall asleep again. It had been nice, he supposed. He couldn't remember anything about it.

Three hours later he still tried to fall asleep. He didn't have much luck. Insomnia, he decided, sucked so much more if you could actually go to sleep and no monster waited for you on the other side.

-o-

"Man, did you hear about Uzumaki?" One customer said to the other, while they carried their lunch-tray to a table.

"Hmm? What about the brat?" The other asked.

The first one looked around. "Well, I heard he hurt himself pretty badly fighting that monster."

"Oh? He let... that out!" The other hissed.

The listener couldn't see the expressions on their respective faces, but their voices carried more than enough emotions to guess.

"And he managed to get it under control again!" The other hissed right back. "I heard it from one of the medics. It nearly burned him out too. Had to hurt like hell."

"So? The damn..." A low growl could be heard, shutting the guy up.

"I didn't see you fighting up there. He did, I think that counts for something doesn't it?" The first said.

The second one spat out. "Bah, I have no idea why you are taking his side. Just remember what that thing did!"

"Yeah that thing, not Uzumaki! Do you think that thing would have saved us?" The anger could be heard from both of them, but much more from the first guy. "And he's traveling with Jirayia-sama now. He's looking for Tsunade. Trying to bring her back. If that doesn't mean he's trustworthy.,,"

"I bet he's just looking for her to heal him." The other said.

The listener moved away, he had heard as much as he needed to hear.

"He's not in the village." He said to his partner as he handed him some ramen. Both wore black cloaks with red clouds stitched onto them, as well as straw hats.

"You sure?" Asked his partner.

"Reasonably, let's go and check his teacher for confirmation." The listener said.

"What about the one tail?" His partner asked. The listener knew that his partner didn't really care though.

"Not our concern, we are after the nine tails."

"Heh, fair enough. We really need to check his teacher?"

"It would be prudent, we can catch their attention easily enough."

"You know? Once we are finished? I think I'll make sure the ramen stand here survives. This is some pretty good ramen." His partner said.

He looked at the ramen and tasted it. "It is... we will spare the ramen stand." He said flatly.

His partner chuckled slightly.

-o-

Well, not much action going on, but I hope people like it nevertheless^^

Thanks to ZusVayo again.


	15. Confrontations

Expectations of Development

-o-

Confrontations

-o-

Itachi glanced back at their pursuers. Not Kakashi, only Kurenai and Asuma, but he had no doubt Kakashi would follow soon.

Curious, that he hadn't immediately, but no big concern for Itachi.

"Well, you guys sure aren't from around here." Asuma opened the conversation.

"Eh, we are just enjoying the scenery and the excellent cooking of your village." Kisame answered, showing a few teeth too many. He always enjoyed the effect his smiles had.

Itachi preferred to live by his own rules. He had only three anyway.

Rule one, be polite.

"Good day Kurenai, Asuma." He inclined his head slightly.

The two looked at him suspiciously. "You heard of us, I'm flattered." Asuma said.

Itachi shrugged. "I've know you." He glanced at Kurenai. "And even met Kurenai now and again."

Kurenai's eyes widened. "Itachi!" She hissed as she got a good look at his eyes.

"Ohh, you're a celebrity Itachi." Kisame chuckled, one hand wandering to his sword, Itachi could feel his excitement and felt it rise in himself as well. But he suppressed it easily. He had to keep a cool head, Kisame sure wouldn't.

He removed his hat and scanned the area, where did Kakashi hide? They only needed him, not the others. Maybe threatening the two before him?

"Asuma, Kurenai please leave I don't want to kill you." He said, careful to keep his voice a monotone. He had to keep up appearances, besides it helped with rule two, be efficient. Nothing ruined efficiency like rampant emotions, they make you sloppy.

"You think we'll just let you get away?" Asuma growled. But Kurenai glanced at him, clearly exasperated, maybe she realized they were out of their depth? Together with Kakashi they might be able to take him, but that would still leave Kisame to deal with. The sharingan just provided too many advantages.

"It would be a wise choice." Itachi stated calmly and make things a bit easier on him, for when Kakashi showed up.

"Heh, wise but not nearly as fun." Kisame added, loosening his sword.

Itachi suppressed a sigh, once Kisame got in the mood... at least he could usually control himself, and he had a certain sense of politeness, most of the time at least.

"Kurenai!" Asuma said, a second before Kurenai used a genjutsu. Itachi followed her movement with the sharingan, but she didn't target him. He frowned, she went straight for Kisame. A pity, genjutsu might just work on Kisame, once. Itachi turned back to Asuma, who focused on him, a hot glare on his face as he pulled two combat knifes from his belt.

"You're going down Itachi." He growled, a second before he charged.

Of course, for occasions like this Itachi made his rule three. Have a plan to kill everybody you meet.

His eyes sprang into full activity, allowing him to easily predict Asuma's path. The knife came close, almost slicing his skin. A second later Asuma's chakra sprung from the knife, but Itachi having predicted that move, merely leaned a bit more to the side. Information truly saved lives. Or perfect skin in this case.

He countered with his own blade, not nearly as fancy as Asuma's toys, but then Itachi didn't need fancy. He just needed what worked.

Somehow Asuma managed to twist out of the way, he couldn't avoid a scratch though. Itachi glanced towards Kisame who had managed to slice Kurenai, her arm bled freely but she had landed a hit as well. A nice one, judging by the blood running down Kisame's neck.

Not that it even bother his partner. He shook his head in amusement. "Not bad, nearly got me there." He chuckled. "I should have been a bit more careful." He bowed slightly to Kurenai and were others would use it to mock, Kisame actually meant it. He knew just how much stronger he was in comparison.

Kurenai glared at him, holding her shoulder Asuma grimaced at both Itachi and Kisame, he realized just how futile attacking them again would be.

Scanning the area again Itachi finally found Kakashi. Finally, just one last push and he would probably interfere. Itachi pushed off the ground, charging Asuma with almost inhuman speed.

Asuma's eyes widened and he brought his blades up to defend himself, commendable really, but ultimately futile, he couldn't react to Itachi the same way Itachi could to him. And so his blocks went wide, while Itachi's attacks almost always found their target. Soon Asuma sported several deep gashes. Itachi reared back for a final strike, aiming for Asuma's head.

Asuma eyed the blade in something akin to resignation, even as he tried to bring his own arms up to block. Of course, Itachi's strike never connected, a silver and green blur jumped in between them, blocked the strike with contemptuous ease and carried Asuma away.

A few feet away Kakashi stopped and looked at the man he carried bridal style. "You aren't Kurenai." He said, disappointment quite apparent in his voice, before he dropped Asuma.

Itachi could see Kurenai roll her eyes, though she did also show a small smile. "This isn't one of your trashy novels Kakashi." She shook her head. "Can't you be serious for once in your life?"

Itachi felt slightly affronted, true Icha Icha would be much better without the sex, much, much better, but the novels definitely weren't thrash. And you could skip the sex easily enough.

He didn't speak up though, rule two.

"Kakashi." He inclined his head.

Kisame looked at the new arrival. "Well, it looks as if this could actually become interesting."

"Who are you after Itachi?" Kakashi asked, his fake smile in full bloom. "Sasuke? He's not here, he and his team have left Konoha."

Itachi could feel his left hand twitch. So that's the reason he didn't find Sasuke. He shook his head. "I'm not here for Sasuke." He denied. "We are searching for something."

Kakashi narrowed his eyes at them. "Oh? And what would that be?"

Itachi smiled ever so slightly. He liked these games, where nobody actually attacked and tried to kill each other. That would come soon enough, but not now. "The fourth's legacy." He answered simply.

Kakashi immediately got it, Asuma and Kurenai didn't, but then they didn't have Naruto on their team, or the fourth as their teacher.

"Naruto... so Akatsuki is after the boy." Kakashi said to himself.

Itachi narrowed his eyes, so Jirayia had told him about that. Good. Still appearances had to be kept.

"I'll deal with Kakashi. He knows too much, kill the others. I'll capture Kakashi." He said to Kisame.

"Finally some action." His partner enthused. "Come on girl, show me what you got, beside genjutsu." He signaled her to attack.

Sadly, for his partner at least, Kurenai specialized in genjutsu. She had more than enough sills in ninjutsu and taijutsu, however against Kisame she might as well be a genin that fought him.

Her hands moved into seals and Kisame stood there for a second, before shaking his head. "It won't work again, not if I can easily dispel your genjutsu." He brought his hands together, only to jump back, returning one hand to the handle of his sword.

"Don't forget about me." Asuma grinned around his cigaret.

"And you should really focus on me." Kakashi said as he slashed at Itachi with a kunai. Itachi easily deflected the attack, too easily really. Kakashi didn't even try stopping him.

Itachi narrowed his eyes and quickly scanned the area. There! Faintly, but definitely coming closer, other jonin? "Kisame, finish them fast! We need to leave." His mangekyo sharingan sprang active as he glared at Kakashi's face. Kakashi shrank back, eyes wide in a moment of utter panic and pain.

A second later he managed to pull himself together. But he wobbled dangerously and Itachi could just knock him out and drag him along.

"Dynamic entry!" A familiar voice shouted. Itachi winced for a second, before a foot connected with his face. Oh how he hated Gai, bastard always, always got the drop on him. True, Itachi always won in the end. But that first punch, kick or whatever, always went to Gai. He had no explanation for it, none!

Still, Itachi easily twisted in the air and landed on his feet.

Glancing at Gai he almost winced, that smile, that smile with the far too shiny teeth... he and Kisame should have a contest, winner takes... whatever. Itachi shook his head ever so slightly. He had to focus, team seven had left Konoha, they had confirmation of that from Kakashi himself. No reason to stay in Konoha at all. Especially with the reinforcements slowly flanking them.

"Kisame, we're leaving. There's nothing left here." He told his partner.

A sigh escaped his partner. "And I had just psyched myself up for this fight."

"There are more coming Kisame." Itachi said. "We have what we wanted, there's nothing left worth fighting them all for." Not to mention he had no desire to destroy Konoha. Would make his crimes a bit pointless after all.

"Fine, fine." Kisame sheathed his sword again and they were gone.

-o-

Gai waited tensely for a few more seconds, before he relaxed again.

He glanced at his allies. "What did they want?"

Kurenai frowned. "They were after Naruto." Asuma shrugged and nodded and they all made their way over to Kakashi.

"Well, it's good that they left then. They fell for it?" Gai asked.

Kurenai and Asuma shrugged. "Looks like it. But with them who can say for sure... you wanted them to follow Jirayia?"

"Yes." Gai agreed as he propped Kakashi up. "How are you Kakashi?"

"I've had better days." Kakashi chuckled weakly. "But if they are going after Jirayia then everything is all right." Spending seventy-two hours being stabbed to death would be worth it to keep Naruto safe. And his other students would probably be alright, since Itachi had no beef with them...

Gai raised an eyebrow. "You think Sasuke meeting his brother is a good thing?"

Kakashi grimaced, it wouldn't be, but with Jirayia there Sasuke might just learn a valuable lesson. At least they hoped he would. And maybe Sakura could keep him from making a deadly mistake. He had to realize that killing his brother would take time and couldn't be done in a few months.

"Want me to follow them and make sure your students are alright?" Gai asked.

Kakashi nodded weakly. "I would appreciate it." Another pair of fists could only help.

Gai turned to the other Jonin. "Can you get him to the hospital? And tell my cute genin that I'll be on important business for a while?"

"Of course." Kurenai nodded, then winced, her shoulder didn't look all that good. "I wouldn't wish that man on anybody." She pressed her hand on her shoulder. "Or that partner of his. How could he do that to his own brother?" She muttered.

Gai nodded, from what he saw of the younger Uchiha, he had some problems. Even Lee's problems paled in comparison to the Uchiha's. Neji... he might understand, a bit too well actually. But in the end Neji still had the rest of his clan. If only the branch family.

"Ok, then I'll get going. Maybe I'll even reach them first?" Gai grinned at them and sped off. If Itachi and Kisame moved like they fought, without any apparent hurry or urgency. He might even arrive in time. Good thing Uzumaki actually rested deep in the bowels of Konoha hospital. At least they didn't have to worry about him.

-o-

The doctor watched over the young boy in his care. Once again he shuddered at the thought of how it must have hurt, to use that much chakra.

To fry your chakra coils like that... and the Kyuubi must have done something to the chakra, otherwise the damage wouldn't have been like this. It would have been irreparable. He actually had no idea how it could have done this.

The coils were frayed, but they had somehow been protected, even now they tried to repair themselves. Fruitlessly of course. He cursed the fox again. He noticed the irony there as well. Where before he would have cursed Naruto, now he cursed the fox specifically. Nobody should have to go through this.

"I really hope your teammates bring back Tsunade kid. You deserve better than early retirement." He muttered as he replaced the seals, keeping the kid asleep. Only if the mission to retrieve Tsunade turned out to be a failure, would they wake him up, after they sealed his coils. And crippled him for life.

"Damn fox." He cursed again.

-o-

Naruto sat in his mind, he had tried to leave, but he couldn't, couldn't for a while now."What's going on? Why can't I wake up?" He grumbled.

He suspected it had something to do with the fox. When he used the chakra it hurt, it hurt much more than ever before. There had been some pain, sure. It felt a bit as if he had burned himself all over his body.

But nothing like this, it had felt as if something tried to rip him apart, from the inside out, but he had held on, molded the chakra and created the henge. Then he had fallen unconscious. And found himself in his mind-scape.

He had avoided going to the Kyuubi. He didn't see the point, soon he would wake up and kick Gaara's ass, without the fox.

But he hadn't woken up. "Gaaaaah! It's boring here!" He shouted and pushed himself up. He couldn't even go to sleep. He tried, but apparently you couldn't fall asleep in your own mind.

So, if he wanted to find out what had happened, and why he couldn't wake up, he would have to talk to the fox.

Soon he stood before the giant cage, baleful red eyes watched from behind the bars.

"So you finally show up." The fox rumbled, sending a shiver down Naruto's spine.

"What did you do?" Naruto asked, ignoring the fox. "I can't wake up anymore."

The fox snorted. "Me? I didn't do anything. I just gave you my chakra. That's what you wanted isn't it?"

Naruto didn't buy it. "You did something, that chakra felt worse than ever before."

Somehow the giant fox managed to look as if he shrugged. Without shoulders even.

"I gave you the chakra, that you couldn't control the amount... now that could hardly be called my fault now could it?" He said with mock innocence.

"So you did do something." Naruto pressed on, he would find out what went wrong.

The fox grunted, clearly annoyed. "I did nothing. You merely failed to protect your feeble chakra system from my power. It burned out. If I hadn't extended some protection to it you would have been crippled for life."

"What?" Naruto shouted and drew back. Crippled for life? No more chakra? He couldn't become an awesome ninja?

"Yes, crippled for life." The fox sneered. "I would have restored you shortly, but your so called friends, they stopped me from healing you. They sealed my chakra. And now they keep you in this state, preventing you from waking up." He chuckled. "Some friends they are."

He seemed to tilt his head, in order to listen to something. "Even now they curse you, can you hear it?"

Naruto tried not to listen, but he could hear it, 'Damn Fox', ever so faintly.

He blinked and glared at the Fox. "They aren't cursing me. They are cursing you! Get it right."

The fox raised a gigantic eyebrow. "Oh? Me? Just like they did all your life right? It has always been me they curse. You were never thought of as me, right?" He chuckled.

Naruto drew a deep breath. So that's it. The fox had tried something, his friends were trying to fix whatever the fox did. And it took them some time.

He turned away from the fox. "I believe in my friends. And I don't trust you." He shouted over his shoulder. "And I'll never trust your words."

"Hahaha. You'll realize the truth soon enough. They hate you, and they'll keep you in this state for as long as possible. Only if we combine our powers can we break out of this state. All you have to do, is break the seal. And we can break out of this. We'll have the power to..."

Naruto ran, hands over his ears. God damn fox. His friends wouldn't do that. Never! Sasuke wouldn't do it. And Sakura would punish everybody who even thought about that. And Hinata... he blushed slightly. She wouldn't hurt him either!

Even if she thought he was the fox. Naruto fought to get his emotions under control. The fox just wanted him to remove the seals. That's all, and if his friends kept him asleep they had a reason for it. A good one. And it would be for his own good.

He couldn't think of a reason, but it probably existed. His friends were smarter than him after all. At least in the boring stuff. Naruto was better at fighting... he looked around and pulled on his chakra. It came easily enough. What had the fox talked about?

Naruto shrugged, at least he could train here. Just weird how easily he could control the chakra...

-o-

Sasuke panted as they walked through the country side, beside him Sakura looked absolutely horrible and drained. She had finally managed to create a decent shadowclone. It had disappeared a minute later again.

Jirayia had them practice creating shadowclones as much as they could. Which in Sakura's case turned out to be very, very little. She just didn't have the chakra reserves to pull it off for long. But then, in her case that would be the point of the exercise, increase her chakra reserves as much as possible.

Same for him, the requirements weren't exactly crippling. Not for one clone at least, but the clones could make you overconfident and if you used it in combat, expecting to double your fighting power you were essentially screwing yourself over. A clone would drain you and provide minimal actual combat potential. To use the technique competently you needed ridiculous amounts of chakra.

Or a working brain. Sasuke had the second, Naruto had the first.

"Ugh, I'm beat and we have so much more time!" Sakura complained. "Can't you teach us something else while we are bushed?" She asked.

Jirayia raised an eyebrow. "Like what? I suppose I could give you the toad contract... but honestly I kinda don't want to. It's kinda for apprentices only."

"And what are we?" Sakura moaned. Sasuke nodded, a summoning contract would be useful.

"Students, there's a difference." Jirayia shrugged.

"Then don't tell us about the damn contract if you aren't going to give it to us!" Sakura shouted with a raised fist.

Jirayia chuckled. "Tsunade will like you. You're so much like her."

Sakura backed down immediately. "I am?" She asked, blushing brightly.

"Well no... you are already a good bit more cynical than she was at that age."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. If Sakura counted as cynical, then what had Tsunade been like?

"What? You kill a few people and you are cynical now?" Sakura huffed.

"What's your opinion on ninja life?" Jirayia asked her.

Sakura shrugged. "Shitty pay, shitty life expectancy, if you do your job right almost nobody knows about it. But somebody has to do it."

Ok, Sasuke had to agree with Jirayia that would be a fairly cynical world view. But where the hell did she get the idea that nobody would know about a job well done? That was the point of ninja, if you did a good job, most of the time you announced it to all of the world to attract more customers.

"...Ok that is fairly cynical." Sakura admitted after a second.

And what did she say about money? The pay far exceeded what civilians made in the same time, at least for the dangerous missions.

"Where did you get those ideas anyway?" Jirayia asked.

Sakura looked at him and shrugged. "History books, they'll rot your brain."

History books? Well, somebody had the entirely wrong idea about ninja.

"Ah, you found a book about ninja before the development of chakra." Jirayia chuckled.

Sasuke blinked in confusion. "Ninja before chakra?" He asked.

Sakura nodded. "Yes, before the Sage of the Six paths showed up and brought us chakra, ninja didn't have access to it. In fact, ninja were very, very different back then." She looked at Jirayia but he gestured for her to continue.

"There are some remains of the more traditional ninja in our training, but those get more and more phased out, since our goals are actually pretty different from the traditional ninja. We aren't primarily spies and assassins anymore. We are more like actual soldiers now." Sakura explained.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "We still do assassinations and spy-work." He pointed out.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "We do, but those jobs usually go to specialist, who actually train for the job, not genin. We aren't really trained for those jobs at the academy. The academy is really just for the basics, chakra control, weapon usage, body control." She shook her head. "Once we are out of the academy, as Zabuza had put it, we aren't really ninja. I dunno what you could call us actually, but we are definitely still students."

She fell silent for a bit, thinking.

Sasuke looked at Jirayia who nodded slowly. "She's right about that. And even most of the older ninja never take an assassination job. It's mostly guard duty, open assault on outposts, policing certain sites. Outright assassination is pretty rare. At least in Konoha. We still use everything we can think of to gain an advantage, but stealth isn't really that much of a weapon anymore. No matter what some people like to believe."

"Hn." Sasuke grunted, he didn't exactly mind that. He had no desire to kill anybody beside his brother. Him, he would enjoy killing.

He grinned slightly, but sighed almost immediately. Even if he would enjoy killing Itachi, it would still be a while before he could face him.

"Well, maybe it should get added to the training plan again? I mean it seems pretty useful, stealth that is." Sakura piped up again.

Jirayia nodded. "It's pretty useful, but consider chakra and the improved senses it brings. Trying to sneak up on a ninja is extremely difficult, unless you specialize. And even then there are no guarantees that he won't see through whatever you came up with. So the academy and your teachers focus on some skills that will be useful no matter what your opponent can do."

Sakura raised an eyebrow.

Jirayia chuckled weakly. "Some teachers follow the swim or sink method of teaching. If the student is motivated enough to train for themselves they usually do much better."

Sakura glared at him. "And if they aren't motivated enough they die, no great loss right? They were too weak anyway."

Jirayia looked at her, Sasuke thought he saw the slightest twitch from him. But in the end he just sighed. "Not if we can help it. But yes, that is a risk. A risk you signed up for when you agreed to become a ninja of Konoha."

Sakura nodded, but she still glared at Jirayia. "I guess."

"Anyway." Jirayia said loudly. "We got on the topic because you brats wanted me to teach you. I'm not giving you the toad contract, at least not without you becoming my apprentices, I've got some other techniques, but they fall under the same deal. The shadowclones will improve your chakra reserves considerably, so that's that. Any idea what you guys want to learn from me?"

So, he wouldn't teach them anything at all?

"How about seals? We didn't get very far there, just the basics really." Sakura piped up. "And we knew those already. Let's get into creating seals!"

Sasuke nodded slowly, that would actually be useful.

"Hmm..." Jirayia rubbed his chin in thought. "That I could do, and while you will be exhausted, the theory doesn't exactly consume much chakra." He nodded. "Alright then. First, let's talk about the different schools on how to make seals."

Sasuke sighed, of course, like with every ninja art there were schools.

"How many schools are there?" Sakura asked, Sasuke could hear the resignation in her voice.

"How many seal-masters are there?" Jirayia countered, eliciting a groan from his students. He laughed and waved them down. "Don't worry, I know only three of these schools. What I'm talking about is how you approach seal making. That's a bit more fundamental than the various schools people came up with over the years."

Sasuke looked at Sakura, she shrugged and he signaled for Jirayia to continue.

Jirayia cleared his throat. "Well, basically it's a division of emotion and logic. Though most people call it art and science. Though really, if you look at it objective you realize in the end it's the same method, paint some funny characters on the paper, see what works continue doing it." He shrugged and rolled his eyes.

"The distinction comes from the, well, feelings one pours into it. For the emotional school, you have to get a feel for every character, you need to feel how they interact and instinctively know what will happen if you put two characters together." He looked at them. "Not easy for amateurs let me tell you."

Sakura nodded quietly. Sasuke shrugged, he could learn that.

"The other way is much easier for amateurs. It involves learning the symbols and how they interact, then placing them on the surface of choice. Easy right?"

Again Sakura nodded, though she looked at the old man suspiciously. Sasuke narrowed his eyes as well.

"And because it's that easy, many masters look down on this school. The seals they create are rather lackluster most of the time. At least when compared to the true masters, who put their very soul into the seals they create." Jirayia hammed it up pretty badly there.

Sakura raised a hand, until Jirayia nodded to her. "So, the logic based seals are weaker than the emotion based seals? But they are easier to make, and probably faster also?"

Jirayia nodded. "That's pretty much the gist of it. Some people tried combining the two. But the results were mostly pretty bad."

Sasuke rubbed his chin. "Why? I would assume getting a feeling for the symbols you write would always be beneficial, even if you have already decided how you will put them on the paper..." Or had you decided?

"Very good. That's what many people thought as well. So they created the layout, based on the logic they had researched before hand, then for each individual seal they applied that logic, but added their own personal touches to the various symbols. The seals worked, sure. But they were even weaker than the purely logic based ones. And most people quickly gave up on those seals." Jirayia explained.

"But not all." Sakura countered.

Again Jirayia nodded. "Not all, they realized that something would influence the seals, that changed each individual seal. The old masters of course told them that it was the lack of individuality. And they were of course right. But they didn't understand why they were right."

"Those some people wouldn't happen do be named Jirayia would they?" Sakura asked, a thin smile on her lips.

Jirayia laughed loudly. "Sorry, no. It was actually the fourth. Though I tried my hands on mixing both schools. I failed obviously, but the fourth found out why it didn't work."

Sakura leaned forward, and Sasuke did the same.

"The paper, or the surface always was different. And the logical side had already taken that into account, by creating symbols that minimized the interference of the surface, if you now changed those symbols even slightly, you ruined the equalization. You could of course change the layout of the symbols as well, but then you might as well start entirely from the art perspective." Jirayia grinned at them.

"So, how did the fourth solve the problem?" Sakura asked, her eyes wide.

Jirayia coughed embarrassed. "He didn't. He had some ideas how he could do it and he worked on them, but... before he could actually finish his research the Kyuubi attacked."

"Oh..." Sakura hung her head and Sasuke looked away.

"Well, if you two show some skills in the art I might hand you his notes. Or maybe Naruto, once he's back on his feet." Jirayia grinned at them. "For now we'll go over how a seal is setup. And we'll use the more logical symbols, it's just faster to learn the basics that way."

He pulled out a thin piece of paper and scrawled some lines on it. "These are the first things you draw, the borders, they are there to keep chakra in the seal, making sure it stays there until you activate it. Then comes the actual effect." He scrawled some more lines. Sasuke didn't recognize them, he certainly had never seen a seal like that before. They seemed to be... handseal names?

"And finally, you put in a trigger. For most seals it will just be a chakra pulse, nothing complicated. Or maybe you want to make sure only your blood can release a certain tool? That's where you put those conditions in." He added even more lines. Beside the names for handseals Sasuke didn't recognize anything.

Sakura stared intently at the seal. "So, the seals are just symbols for the standard handseals then?"

"More or less, as I said, there are a myriad variations to the seals, based on the paper, the ink, your chakra. Even the logical approach has to do a lot on instinct. But yes, you place the handseals for the effect you want on the paper, add some chakra to it and you are done. Easy right?" He smiled at them. And if they actually believed him they were bigger morons than Naruto.

"Anyway." Jirayia added, scrawling several lines on paper. I'll give each of you a quick rundown of the borders first. Only the basic three, weak to strong. There are more specific borders, for the elements, you can store more chakra of a certain type in those easier and so on, but no need to go overboard."

He handed them each three pieces of paper. "Here, just try to draw the seals while we walk, it will be good training." He handed them some more paper and a brush each.

"Are you always running around with a sealing set like this?" Sasuke asked suspiciously.

"Ehehehe." Jirayia chuckled, rubbing his head.

Sakura waved Sasuke back though. "So he planned to teach us sealing from the beginning, don't complain."

Sasuke rolled his eyes and focused on his piece of paper, the sharingan made seeing the borders clearly very easy. Walking while drawing did pose some troubles, it wouldn't hinder him for very long.

"By the way, when Orochimaru bit Sasuke a seal appeared just like that... what's up with that?" Sakura asked suddenly.

Jirayia shrugged. "That is actually quite a bit more advanced. A bit too advanced for you. But at some point you can create seals just with your own blood and chakra. Very useful, if you need to create quick seals. But you need to have a lot of experience to pull it off."

"I see." Sakura nodded and turned back to her own attempts, Sasuke frowned, they weren't better than his, not yet, but did she have to match him even with the sharingan?

He sighed in exasperation, Naruto had the demon, which meant he surpassed him in chakra. Sakura had her head, which simply was better with theoretical stuff and maybe even artistic crap like seals. He had both smarts and chakra, and the sharingan. Just because they were better in certain ways, didn't mean that he was bad, he merely set different priorities.

And he actually started to believe that. He didn't know how he should feel about that.

He glanced at the proto seals in his hand, then grabbed the one at his neck. He nearly forgot about it really. It never did anything useful, ever. Why had Orochimaru put it there anyway? And what power did he talk about? The power to kill an old kage far past his prime? And loose his hands in the deal? Maybe Sasuke would be interested, if he didn't think Itachi would have killed the Hokage without loosing both hands in the deal.

He smirked, that had been all over Konoha, how Orochimaru had lost his hands, even after he managed to summon two previous Hokages to do his fighting for him.

Sometimes the seal itched, it irritated Sasuke and if he didn't have the discipline he had it would have distracted him a few times, crucial times as well. Stupid thing, he wanted it gone already.

-o-

Libido sighed as he wandered through the streets, Teamwork had send him to get some food. However she had forbidden him to draw any attention to himself for now. They would lay low for a bit... or better he would lay low. She had other plans. And her hair had returned to pink. He didn't know which color he liked better though.

He grabbed some apples from a stand on the market and stashed them with the other food he already stole.

"Hey! Thief!" Somebody shouted. Libido turned around. Hunger stared at him angrily and sent several Itachis scrambling. The Itachis and hunger got along great. Hunger didn't care for politics, he only cared for food. Fat bastard that he was.

Libido shot away, into the narrow streets of the city. He hoped he would find Selfreflection again. The guy seemed interesting and more importantly, he knew his way around the city. Libido didn't, he just ran around randomly.

Up ahead he saw an open door, he wondered who had opened it, but he didn't care. It seemed like a good hideout. He slipped in quickly and slammed it shut behind him.

Soon enough the Itachis could be heard running past the door.

"Power." Something whispered behind Libido.

He blinked and turned around. There, chained to the wall in old rusty chains sat a man, unkempt, dirty and pale. His long black hair hung around his face.

"You want power don't you?" He asked, no hissed. Libido could see his tongue split like a snakes. He recoiled from the thing. It didn't have feet either, just a snake tail.

"Who, what... are you?" Libido asked and narrowed his eyes at the thing. The chains held it's hands back, and lifted it from the ground, they also covered it's entire torso and tail, it had no chance whatsoever of escaping.

"Hmm, a means to an end. You want to fight the Itachis don't you? To wipe them out? Just release me, and I'll give you that power." It's hisses were alluring, Libido had to give it to the thing. But if he had to choose between the Itachis or it... well the Itachis didn't seem so bad. At least they only wanted to beat him up. This thing seemed intent on eating him.

"No thanks, I think there's a reason you're chained up." He countered.

"There is a reason, yes. It's dangerous. Don't get too close." Libido whirled around and stood face to face with Teacher. "Did I startle you? My bad." Teacher grinned.

Stupid silver headed bastard. "You didn't startle me... wait, did you trap that here?"

He nodded. "Yes, it's better if that thing doesn't get free. But the chains are holding for now. Still, better not give into temptation eh? As long as that thing's left alone nothing bad will happen. Better forget that you were ever here." Teacher said as he guided Libido out of the building.

Libido looked back, the thing smiled at him. It didn't look as if it considered itself beaten.

-o-

Sakura nearly shouted in joy as they reached the little town. She felt like somebody had wrung her dry. Every little bit of chakra had been drained out of her. First the shadowclone training. Then, luckily, the sealing training. Then Jirayia had them train some more, Sasuke had trained his genjutsu, on Sakura, she had trained with her wires, on him.

She could barely move anymore. "Fooooood." She moaned.

"Hnn." Sasuke agreed. He looked a bit pale as well.

"Well, we are going to get a room as fast as possible, you'll have some food then." Jirayia placated them.

"Good, I think I'll die if I don't get some food soon." Sakura moaned.

"Oh yes, Sasuke? You'll have to create another shadowclone." Jirayia added.

Sasuke's eyes widened for a second. He groaned quietly and brought his hands together. Sakura stared in disbelieve at him. Where did he find the chakra to make another clone?

Then she got a good look at the clone. Ah easy, he didn't have the chakra for another clone.

The clone, wobbled weakly, barely standing at all. It kinda seemed to melt as well...

"Can't." Sasuke gasped and keeled over. Sakura caught him before he hit his head or something.

"You gonna try or do I have to make a clone?" Jirayia asked amused.

Sakura glared back at him and smirked. If she got some food soon, she could pop a soldier pill. Kind of a waste, but it would be good training.

She cracked the pill and immediately felt fresh chakra flood her system. A quick handseal later and the chakra had left her system again. But a perfect copy of Naruto stood beside them.

"Hey Sakura! Let's go on a date here alright?" It threw itself at her. "I bet they have a super ramen stand somewhere here."

Sakura wondered if she should consider herself sane for playing it up like this... what did it say about yourself if you used a henged shadowclone to hit on yourself?

Nothing good she was sure.

"How long will that hold?" Jirayia asked. "And tone it down a bit. He's never acted like that."

"Did too..." Sakura panted. "Well, maybe not quite that bad."

"Hey, let me carry Sasuke, he's too close to you." The clone said and grabbed the unconscious boy.

Sakura grumbled a bit, but she would get the memories of the clone, so no problem. She wondered if she could seal a clone like that in a tag. Activate the seal and a fully formed clone would spring up.

Something to look into she supposed.

"Let's hurry. It won't last very long, especially when carrying Sasuke." She panted.

"Yes." Jirayia quickly led them through the city.

"How long will we be staying?" She asked.

Jirayia shrugged. "I'll need to gather some information, get a clue on where Tsunade is going. At least a day. You'll have more than enough time to have some fun with your boy toy."

Sakura blushed.

"Yeah, we'll have lots of fun Sakura!" Her clone shouted in a perfect imitation of Naruto. If only Hinata were here. She would distract... why the hell did a clone of herself hit on her like crazy? Maybe Ino had it right and Sakura had a thing for herself?

Nah, that was just how Naruto acted with no other girl around. She frowned at her clone. Maybe a bit overdone, that's all.

"Tone it down a little bit will you?" She told her clone.

"Hehehe. Sure." The clone grinned a bit sickly. "Uhh lets hurry a bit yes? I'm feeling a tad brittle."

Jirayia nodded. "It's over there, no worries."

They quickly filed into a nice little hotel, it looked clean and seemed well maintained.

"Ah, welcome to our humble home." The receptionist greeted them, he looked at Sasuke slung over the clones shoulder. "How many rooms do you want?" He seemed a bit unsure how to deal with them.

Jirayia didn't seem bothered by it. "Two, one for the lady." Sakura had to snort at that, quietly though. "And one for the men."

The receptionist nodded and handed Jirayia the keys after a bit of haggling over prices. Sakura didn't pay too much attention. She just wanted to get some shut eye. Naruto might have the energy to keep going even after some hard training.

Soon she found herself in her room, a second later she felt her clone dispensed. Pleasant memories of Sasuke over her shoulder flooded into Sakura. Though it might have been more pleasant if he carried her?

She shrugged, the bed felt so nice.

"Well I can see you aren't going to do any exploring now. Once you had some sleep don't hesitate to check out the town though. You young people need to relax every once in a while." Jirayia grinned from the door.

Sakura groaned, couldn't he just let her sleep? "What are you going to do?" She asked.

"As I said, I'm gonna go and ask around a bit, gather information on where Tsunade has been seen last. That sort of thing."

"Good. Me sleep now." Sakura muttered and fell into her mattress. She heard his chuckles. Almost immediately the darkness consumed her.

-o-

Ino stared at her father, as he grinned at her. "Could you repeat that?" She asked, shocked.

"You left quite the impression on Gaara. He's been nothing but polite. From previous reports he changed his behavior totally. He almost acts the opposite from what he acted in the exam." Her father said.

"Because of me?" Ino asked, and raised an eyebrow.

"Well, that he got some sleep probably helped... and that we keep suppressing his demon might also play a factor. We aren't afraid of him either, at least not like he is now. I think all of that helps keeping him in a good mood." He shrugged.

"So what? Why mention that to me? He still crippled Naruto." She growled.

"Well, he's very cooperative so far. Answering all our questions, not complaining... though he did ask if we can put him to sleep again. Apparently he suffers from insomnia even without the demon." Her father explained.

"I still don't know what that has to do with me." Ino pointed out.

"Er...Ibiki asked if you would like to help us out a bit. Nothing fancy, just stand there and smile at him. We might get something new that way."

"Let me get this straight. You want me to make googly eyes at a boy?" Ino couldn't believe her father. He always turned on the water works if she talked about Sasuke. But now he wanted her to seduce a boy? From an enemy village even?

"Nothing like that. All you have to do is stand there and be pretty. I'm sure you can manage that easily enough." His eyes widened immediately after he said it.

"What?" Ino screeched. She had brought down a damn demon! With help, sure but she did.

"Not that I'm calling you weak dear, but we aren't allowed to do anything more drastic to him. We might need him as a bargaining chip against Suna. With you there he might just let something more slip." Her father backpedaled quickly.

"Hmpf." Ino turned her back on him. "So that's all I am to you? A pretty face?" She sniffled. "You always wanted a boy. I'm just a burden." She sniffled.

"Ino! Baby. That's not true at all. You're my darling, look after you do that we'll train on a new technique alright? You told me you entered his mind-scape right? I'll teach you how to do that to normal people as well." Her father kneed before her and held her hand looking imploringly at her.

Ino glared down before she nodded. And graciously accepted. "I suppose that's fine then."

And suddenly she found herself in a crushing hug. She hugged back fiercely. It was an old game between them. One they played quite often, but they never got tired of it.

She feared the day they would. Their relationship would be so boring then.

-o-

Sakura walked through a long corridor, she couldn't make out any details on the wall, however something told her she shouldn't focus on the walls anyway.

In front of her walked Kakashi, but he looked kinda strange. Nothing she could put a name to though.

"Were are we going?" She asked, her voice trembling slightly. She couldn't help it. The air seemed so cold.

Kakashi didn't answer, he simply pushed open a door, that had suddenly appeared in front of him and marched on.

Sakura frowned slightly, but followed him anyway. She didn't dare to look back, that would be even worse than looking at the walls.

She stepped into the room and noticed that no sign of Kakashi could be found. He had just disappeared. In the middle of the room a small light shone. And somebody seemed to rest on a hospital bed.

Slowly she stepped closer. She didn't want to step closer, but...

With every step she took breathing became more difficult. She had nearly reached the bed, when she fell to her knees. She could only concentrate on getting oxygen now, nothing else. Certainly not the horribly maimed figure on top of the bed.

"He won't wake up!" Hinata shouted from the other side of the bed. "You killed him!" She cried, or would have cried if she still had eyes. Or a head. Sakura recoiled from the corpse that stood there and talked with Hinata's voice.

"What? Hinata? What happened?" She asked, panic creeping into her voice.

"You killed me as well. Send me on a mission you knew I wouldn't come back from!" Hinata hissed.

"She likes doing it." Ino snickered from behind Sakura.

Sakura whirled around and came face to face with. She closed her eyes and stumbled back. Ino couldn't, wouldn't end up that way! Naruto's bed stopped her, she couldn't escape from them. She wouldn't send Ino to be captured... tortured... and...

"You'll just have to deal with it." Naruto sneered, that's just the price of leadership.

"You think you such a great Kunoichi. You should just get over it." Sasuke shrugged. "They aren't worth much if they fail anyway? Right?" Sakura stared at the blade that stuck out of his chest.

"No." She whispered.

"You killed a lot of people, but at least the others weren't on your side." Shikamaru shrugged, or tried to. It proved difficult with only a head and no shoulders.

Sakura's eyes wandered through the room, finding more and more corpses. All staring accusingly at her.

Finally another Sakura walked in. "Heh. Pathetic, all of you are pathetic. Go back into the graves, where you belong. Don't bother me." And the corpses disappeared.

She turned to the original Sakura. "You are disgusting, crying for your lost friends. Stand up, forget about them. They died, they are weak. No point mourning them."

"I... I..." Sakura stuttered, she wouldn't become like that. She couldn't...

"Bah, you are disgusting as well, sniveling coward." She rammed a sword into Sakura's chest. "I changed my mind, you can have her." She said and turned away, leaving Sakura alone with the corpses.

"NOOOOO!" Sakura tried to reach the other her, but the corpses closed in and...

-o-

Sakura's eyes flew open, staring at the ceiling of her hotel room. She whimpered silently.

Nightmares, would she ever stop having them? Groggily she made her way out of bed. At least she didn't feel sick again this time. Probably got used to the vivid dreams. At least enough not to spew when she woke up from one.

She stared at the mirror in her room. She looked horrible, her hair stood off in various directions and she could feel her clothes cling to her, from her sweat.

"Ugh... this sucks." She muttered as she splashed water into her face. Maybe she could switch with Gaara, he could sleep and have her nightmares, and she fought that demon in his head. Might be worth asking.

The worst part was that now she had to think about ordering friends to their deaths. She wondered if leadership really would be worth it.

And Naruto wanted to become Hokage... idiot, he just had no idea what that meant.

Though he probably wouldn't care. He would just try to make it so that he didn't have to send his friends to their deaths.

She focused her chakra on her hair. Soon the worst damage of the nightmare had been hidden. Just a rush job, but a decent one at least.

She slipped out the door and knocked on the door to the room the boys shared. "Come in." Sasuke answered.

She opened the door and a shirtless Sasuke greeted her. He moved through some kata, seemingly to warm up or something. Maybe he just tried to stay limber.

If she hadn't just suffered through a very bad nightmare she might even have enjoyed the display.

"You alright?" He asked her, as she flopped herself down on the couch.

"Why do you ask?" She replied.

"You aren't going gaga over my half naked."

"Oh... nightmare, I just don't feel like it." She explained.

He nodded in sympathy. "Yeah, nightmares are... bad." He looked down.

"How do you deal with them?" Sakura asked. With the way his family died...

"I don't, I just ignore them." He looked away from Sakura.

"Oh." She stared at the wall, everything to avoid looking at him.

"Do you think Naruto has nightmares?" She asked after a few minutes.

Sasuke opened his mouth, but no sound came out. Finally he nodded. "Probably... about being alone I guess." I have them too. He didn't say. But Sakura could guess.

Her own nightmares seemed so silly by comparison. She hadn't suffered as they had, hell, she had nightmares because she succeeded. How messed up was that?

"What do you dream about?" Sasuke asked, still avoiding her eyes.

Sakura remained silent for a while, then she answered. "The guys I killed... and today... about sending you all out to die..."

"Hn." Sasuke grunted. They stared at their respective spots on the wall for a long while.

"There's a theater in town." Sasuke finally said.

"How do you know?" Sakura asked, he had been unconscious when Jirayia told her.

"I got something to eat downstairs. They told me about it." He answered. Sakura's stomach rumbled in response. "Maybe you should get some food as well?" He hesitated. "Maybe... maybe we can go to the theater then... together."

Sakura snorted, she would have prayed for something like this to happen only a month or two ago. Now? Now she just felt glad that she had something to distract herself with.

"Thank you, that sounds like a nice idea." She said.

Sasuke nodded slowly. He didn't seem entirely sure about this idea of his, but he would go through with it.

Somebody knocked on the door. "Huh? Who's there?" Sasuke asked, slightly irritated.

Sakura walked over to the door, probably just a hotel worker or room service... or Jirayia, giving them the opportunity to make themselves presentable. Pervert.

Looking at Sasuke she saw him create a shadowclone of Naruto, the people downstairs probably had asked after Naruto already.

He would need to be in the room at least. The more he was seen the better.

She opened the door and came face to face with an older Sasuke... an evil older Sasuke.

"Hi there, you must have gotten the wrong room." She grinned at him and shut the door.

"Oh Shit!" She shouted and stared at Sasuke, who stared at the door growling. "Oh double shit!" She added. "Sasuke snap..." The door flew into her back, sending her to the ground rather painfully.

Itachi entered the room, followed by another guy who looked like a freaking shark. He also ignored Sasuke and focused on his clone instead. Though Sakura had her doubts about how long the clone would keep standing the way he trembled.

Sakura might never have seen Itachi before, but somebody with that much resemblance to Sasuke just had to be his brother. She groaned beneath the door, that had hurt.

The shark guy glanced at her, but quickly dismissed her as unimportant, instead he focused on Sasuke's clone as well.

"Naruto." Itachi said.

"Itachi!" Sasuke hissed, his clone merely trembled, whether in rage or fear, Sakura didn't know.

Itachi glanced at his brother. "Sasuke, you are still too weak." He said, then turned back to the clone. "Come with us, if you want your friends to survive." He told him.

"Itachi!" Sasuke shouted and charged his brother.

Sakura wanted to scream, but no sound came out, as she saw that Orochimaru's seal had broken out of Kakashi's seal.

Sasuke moved so fast... his hands flew together, she recognized that seal, he wanted to use the grand fireball technique... in this room!

Itachi casually backhanded him into a wall. "I told you, you are still too weak. You still don't hate me enough."

Sakura pushed pushed herself up and the door off herself. The shark guy grinned at her. "Want to fight little girl?" He asked, briefly spiking his killing intend.

It felt as if somebody had slapped her in the face, maybe worse than Orochimaru even... though that might just be the distance of the memory.

"N.. n... no..." She managed to stutter out.

He shrugged. "Eh, suppose you wouldn't be much of a challenge at all."

Sasuke whirled around, his eyes spinning like crazy. "Stay out of this Sakura, he's mine!" He howled, battle-lust making him sound like an animal.

Sakura shrank back, what the hell? She glanced at Itachi, who sneered, decidedly unimpressed. "You should have stayed down." He said, as he grabbed Sasuke and forced him to look into his eyes.

Sakura whimpered as she felt a hand go into her pouch, doing this would be suicidal... and she might kill Sasuke as well. But, she couldn't let Itachi do whatever he wanted to do.

She threw the explosive kunai. And suddenly Itachi held her up by the throat, Sasuke groaned as he pushed himself upright again. His clone staring in incomprehension.

But the madness had taken hold of Sasuke almost immediately again. "Sakura!" He growled. "I told you to stay out of this!"

Itachi threw her into Sasuke, even as she feebly scratched his hands in an attempt to force him to let her go. Sasuke dodged her effortlessly, only intent on killing Itachi.

"God damn it Sasuke you aren't ready!" She shouted, before she even landed, and whipped some kunai after him. She managed to hold on to the wires even as she crashed into the wall, even as she felt something in her torso give. Itachi, she decided, could only be a monster.

Her wires wound themselves around Sasuke's feet, if he had focused on anything but Itachi he would have just hopped over them, but he didn't even notice them, until Sakura yanked them back, as much as she could and tripped him. He planted his face right at Itachi's feet.

The man barely even blinked and bend down to pick his little brother up. Shark guy stood there laughing. "She's a bit feisty isn't she?" He asked Itachi. But the other man ignored him, in favor of his brother.

She yanked on the wire again, but Sasuke strained against it.

"You damn idiot, don't look him in the eyes! You aren't ready yet!" Sakura shouted, she felt the tears running down her face. She had no idea what Itachi planned, but...

Suddenly Sasuke stopped struggling, instead he pushed himself away from Itachi, who had stopped for a second to glare at Sakura.

Sasuke coughed once, spitting blood on the ground, Sakura could see him shaking. He breathed heavily. "I... I won't... I won't kill you bastard." He spat, not even looking at Itachi. "I won't give you the satisfaction you sadistic asshole!" He shouted at the ground. "We'll train, we'll get stronger. And once we are strong enough, I'll let her beat you, you hear that you..." He trembled, and took a step back. "I'll let her kill you. I won't follow your orders you bastard. I'll make my own way!" He glared at Itachi for a second, before he stared at the ground again.

Sakura wondered why Itachi hadn't killed him yet, but she couldn't move, couldn't speak, she could just stare.

"And you know... you know what Itachi?" Sasuke managed a laugh, certainly hysterical, but he laughed... Sakura winced, as she felt the raw pain in that laugh. "I've already won this fight! Naruto isn't here, he never was. He's back in Konoha, safe and sound!" He dispelled his clone.

Itachi stared at his trembling brother. Sakura thought she saw a frown flicker over that blank mask he called a face, however that might just have been the tears.

"Foolish little brother." Itachi sighed.

"I'm not your brother." Sasuke whimpered, as he lost his balance and fell to his knees.

"Your hatred has grown weak. You've become too attached to this girl." He looked at Sakura and she immediately closed her eyes. And prayed for a miracle. What could she do against Itachi? Beside hope for a quick end?

"Sakura!" She opened her eyes again and saw Sasuke trying to push himself up again, but even if he managed, he couldn't do anything.

She looked at Itachi, as he and saw him coming for her, a kunai reared back, ready to strike. So, this is how... Toad... huh? A toad suddenly appeared between Itachi and her, stopping his progress cold.

"Sorry, but I won't let you harm my students any more than you already have." Jirayia grinned at him, holding a woman over his shoulder he must have picked up earlier.

Sakura chuckled in relief. "Are your pick up lines so bad you have to kidnap women now?" She asked, not quite sure where the line suddenly came from.

Jirayia shot her a look, not of irritation however, but worry? She couldn't stop chuckling though, it seemed all so funny!

"Jirayia." Itachi said. The shark guy smirked as well. "This has suddenly gotten very interesting." And he loosened the sword on his back.

"You know? You two are decidedly unyouthful." Gai, of all people said, standing behind the two.

Now she was sure, even through all the tears flowing down her face, Itachi did frown!

"We are leaving Kisame. This fight... we won't win. And Uzumaki isn't here anyway. This distraction, has cost us too much time." He glanced at his brother, who had the same manic chuckling going on as Sakura, though he still lay on the ground shaking terribly.

"Who says I'm allowing you to leave?" Jirayia asked, his hands already forming various seals. He slammed them into the ground, and the walls surrounding them turned to some sort of flesh. "Gama Gushi Shibari." He grinned at them. "Now there's no escape, you're inside my stomach."

Itachi didn't even glare at Jirayia, instead he looked at the window, at the other side of the room and it burst into black fire. Jirayia and even Gai could only stare as the two missing nin jumped out of the window and disappeared.

"I suppose that is the best result we could hope for." Gai muttered as he knelt before Sasuke, who simply remained on the ground, shaking like crazy and giggling.

A second later Sakura joined Sasuke on the ground. She had faced off against Itachi, the guy who slaughtered an entire clan! And she had survived! "I think, I think I'm going to be sick." She whispered.

In the background Sasuke repeated a mantra of: "He ran, he ran, he ran."

-o-

Took a bit to write this one, but I made it in time.

Thanks again to ZusVayo for his beta work.


	16. Perspectives

Expectations of Development

-o-

Perspectives

-o-

Sakura trembled, as she watched Jirayia and Gai discuss what had happened and how to proceed. The adults ignored her and Sasuke for now, they had made sure they were all right, then retreated to another corner of the room, whispering.

She glanced at Sasuke who rocked back and forth, muttering his little mantra. She wanted to push herself up and walk over to him, hold him and comfort him. But he wouldn't like that, he wouldn't like that at all and she just didn't have the strength to do it in any case. Now that the adrenalin had worn off, and the fear could really settle in, she just didn't have it in her to move.

Actually, Sasuke's idea had a lot of merit. Curling up and thanking whatever gods looked over brainless idiots seemed like a good idea right now.

-o-

Libido ran, he had never seen so many Itachis, all together. The only good thing about this army? It apparently had no interest in him and he certainly had no desire to mess with it. So he ran, hiding in the city hoping they wouldn't go there.

But what really terrified him, much more than the Itachis, was the gigantic shadow, he had red eyes, spinning in a mad dance, as he glared coldly down at them all. Something about the shadow reminded him of the Itachis, but they were arraying to fight against the shadow, forcing whatever, whoever, they though useful out to fight against him.

Not Teamwork though, she had been pushed away, even over her protests. As if she hadn't proven her worth in the last fight. But Pride and Guilt had beaten her back for the moment, keeping her away. Libido had seen her hanging around the edges of the army, waiting for her chance. He hoped she could do something about that evil giant.

He blinked as he stared at an open door, a door he remembered all too well, he had entered it only a few hours ago... or had it been longer? He couldn't say for sure.

Carefully he edged closer to the door and looked in. His eyes widened as he saw Teacher, impaled by guilt.

"Sorry, but we need it's power to fight the shadow. Anything that will help us win, we'll use anything." Guilt hissed at the crumbling form of teacher.

The chains around the creature disappeared, leaving it unbound on the ground. It's tongue licked the air once or twice, then it grinned. "Ahh, freedom. You won't regret it, no. You won't regret it at all."

It stretched and darkness spread everywhere. Libido shrank back, but the darkness washed over him without the slightest chance to resist.

It felt oily, and seemed to reach into his very core, tying to find a hold there, to take root.

But it gave up after a few seconds. "Useless." He heard the damn voice.

The darkness had taken over the houses however, and Libido stood in a black city, surrounded by black buildings, that stank of decay. He held his nose, and stumbled away. What had Guilt done?

One hand held on to the slick wall, guiding him through the streets, he had no idea where he was going, just out of the city.

He stumbled and grabbed the ledge of the building. Then he blinked in confusion at his hand. Somehow he held a bit of stone. Glancing at the wall he realized that he had ripped it right out of the building, just by gripping it. He looked around, but the only people present weren't paying any attention to him, just to the giant shadow in the distance.

He punched the wall closest to him and his eyes widened, as his hand went through as if the wall didn't even exist, it just crumbled around his fist. He whimpered what had Guilt unleashed?

Whirling around he searched for the shadow. Whatever happened, that thing would fight the shadow and Libido had to see what happened there, he just had to see it!

-o-

He arrived at the battlefield a few minutes later, and in front of the shadow stood the monster , it looked quite amused, as it watched the Itachis jump against the shadow in futile attack after futile attack. They didn't seem to even dent the thing!

Teamwork paced around the edges, barely visible over the distance Libido hid. Several Itachis barred her from the battlefield, and she growled at the... things? Covered in the seal's black goo.

She also had taken a shower in it apparently, but she didn't seem all that affected. Just like libido, the Itachis on the other hand changed, slowly becoming more and more snakelike.

The big shadow didn't seem to mind, he just stared at it all coldly, ripping into the things without any effort at all, killing them in the hundreds. But for every one he killed a hundred new ones sprung up, all tainted even more.

"Kekeke, lets show that thing what we can do? Eh?" The snake thing hissed and charged. Libido's eyes widened even more, the thing was fast! Faster than anything Libido had ever seen, even Teamwork couldn't compare to it's speed. Not even close, that power... maybe it could defeat the shad...

The shadow slapped it away, with utter contempt. It hadn't had the slightest effect on the shadow, it might as well have been a Itachi for all it had achieved.

He saw Teamwork smirk at the thing as it landed close to her. "Aww, did the snake looser get owned?" She sneered. "We aren't ready for this fight moron. And you aren't nearly strong enough to face that thing."

Libido blinked, ignoring the range he heard her over. She would fight that thing she had the strength!

"Hell I'm not nearly strong enough, that thing... that thing is something else. Best course of action would be retreat for now and wait for a better moment."

Or maybe she wouldn't, but Libido had to concede that she had a point, that thing whatever it was, just couldn't be beaten as they were now.

"Ohh no, you won't. All of thisss will be mine. That ssshadow, isss merely an opportunity for my takeover. And if it beatssss this little army? All the better for me." The snake thing grinned. Libido glanced at the shadow, but it didn't appear to do much, beside multiply the Itachis raging against it.

Teamwork frowned at the thing and readied her sword. "We'll see about that."

The snake shot forward, not even the slightest warning. And with it surged several Itachis. Teamwork easily avoided the Itachis, but the snake thing grazed her shoulder, sending her spinning. Right into the Itachis who tried to stab her with oil slick weapons.

Teamwork didn't stop spinning though and her sword followed her spin, decapitating most Itachis in range, the few who managed to escape couldn't get near her for their own strikes. Of course, the snake had more than enough reinforcements, even or maybe because of that shadow destroying them in droves.

They didn't return when Teamwork killed them though, those stayed dead.

The snake thing attacked again, but this time Teamwork struck faster and cut off an arm, in doing so she left her flank open though and an Itachi managed to slam a sword into her side.

Libido winced, before his eyes widened, it hadn't been an Itachi, it had been guilt!

"We have to kill him, WE have to kill him, not some bitch thinking she's the answer to all our problems! We failed not you!" He howled.

Pride also stepped up. "If we can't do this alone, we are worthless. Stand out of our way!" He growled.

Teamwork whirled around decapitating several Itachis, that had attempted to sneak up on her. "This battle is utterly pointless, you released that thing!" She pointed her sword at the snake, whose arm had already regenerated. "And the shadow still pushes you around as if you are nothing. Do you really think you can win this fight?" She growled.

"We must." Guilt howled back. "Whatever it takes, we must beat it. There will be no retreating!" Pride nodded in agreement. The snake merely smirked.

Slowly Itachis circled around Teamwork, cutting off any and all retreats for her. She needed support, but from where? Libido had never felt weaker, even when he could only run from the Itachis he had some power, now? He could barely move!

But Teamwork didn't seem to be afraid, at all. "Heh, you pathetic cowards. Do you really think I was alone?" She asked amused.

And suddenly two more people stood around her, a black haired boy and a blond boy. And even more people appeared, Libido blinked, they were all Teamwork, he recognized the blond Teamwork from before, but now there were at least twelve people around the original Teamwork.

What the hell was going on? And damn, every female Teamwork was hot!

He shook his head as he watched them all rush into the fray, it should have been a curb-stomp with all those people on Teamwork's side, but even with them they had to work. It seemed as if splitting up weakened Teamwork considerably, but why did she do it... he grinned as he saw the reason, they were more than just the sum of their parts. They all had different skills, skills that they employed brilliantly against their enemies.

The blond girl took over several Itachis and set them against each other, while the fat guy with her stopped anyone attempting to attack her short. The scrawny guy captured several Itachis at once and kept them still, to use as soon as the girl lost most of her current captives.

Whenever they were threatened to be overwhelmed one of the other groups helped out. The main teamwork and the first two people had engaged Guilt and Pride, while the weird old guy and the awesomely hot chick in the fishnet took on the snake thing.

Libido watched the battle in total awe, the looming shadow almost forgotten.

Guilt and Pride held their ground, they even managed to land a hit or two against their opponents, but most of the time they struck nothing, or a swarm of the blond guy. He could multiply himself even more than Teamwork herself.

Libido frowned, actually they seemed to be aiming totally wrong as well, and their strikes just sent them into the wires Teamwork send against them.

Soon Pride and Guilt stood there, bleeding and broken. Teamwork jumped forward and rammed two kunai into their faces, gaining frowns of disapproval from her partners. She shrugged them off and motioned towards the snake thing. The others still ran interference on the Itachis... and wow, what a mountain of corpses they had already amassed... it almost looked like a solid wall around the main fight.

The three kids joined the fight, against the snake, fluidly running in, closing the few gaps in the attack the old man and the hot chick left. The snake thing hissed in anger and somehow managed to retreat without taking much damage.

"You can't beat that without me!" It hissed angrily, pointing at the shadow, still ripping into the Itachis, it hadn't moved any closer though, content to kill the attackers.

The snake thing grinned, right until a hand, crackling with lightning slammed through it's chest.

"Sorry I'm late, pulling myself together took a while." Teacher said, grinning at the rest of Teamwork.

Libido blinked, Teacher also belonged to Teamwork?

"Yes... well... good of you to finally show up." Teamwork muttered, she grinned down at the snake thing. "And just for your information, we have already won. Just by the thing being here!"

But Libido could see her glare at the thing. She was lying, he had no doubt about that. Still for now she would take whatever victory she could get.

"We'll get it soon enough, soon enough." She muttered. "Can you put this thing away again? And next time don't let Guilt ambush you!" She growled at Teacher.

Teacher nodded, rubbing his head in embarrassment. "I'll try." He picked up the snake thing and disappeared.

The shadow suddenly turned to Teamwork, who had pulled herself together again, back into her adult self.

She glanced back at the shadow and frowned. "Getting out of here would seem to be a good idea right about now..." She gulped. But the hand came down hard on her.

Only to be stopped by a giant toad. The old man had appeared again. "Hey, thought I would help out again." He grinned and winked at Teamwork.

The shadow glanced down at him, then shrugged. "Next time worm." And he disappeared as suddenly as he had appeared.

The Itachis didn't disappear though. Libido winced. Teamwork had taken a beating, even though she had won against quite the superior force. And there remained so many Itachis...

A second later Teamwork had disappeared as well, clearly deciding that discretion was the better part of valor.

Libido turned back to the city, the black oil had disappeared, mostly, but many buildings had crumbled and here and there the film could still be seen. Hopefully the damage could be repaired, he didn't like to think that the snake thing could have created a permanent hold.

-o-

Sasuke laid back in his bed. A few hours ago Gai had carried him into a new hotel Sakura hadn't been able to walk as well, they were both still shocked at the ease with which Itachi had crushed them.

Still, he had ran away. Itachi had ran away! And he had frowned, as Sasuke told him he had lost, and that he wouldn't kill him.

Sasuke smiled weakly, also he had beaten Itachi, however minor the victory actually was. And how ever much the plan had never been his to begin with. He felt just glad that he knew why Itachi was after Naruto, if he didn't know that... well he had no idea how he would feel then, but not as good as now that was for certain... and he didn't feel good at all either.

"Hey." Sakura called over from her bed on the other side of the room. Jirayia had opted to get a room for all of them together, in order to avoid having one of them caught alone. After hearing the full story he seemed rather reluctant to let that happen again.

"What is it?" He asked her.

"Did you mean it? I mean letting me kill Itachi?" Sakura asked, not without a small sliver of dread in her voice. And he understood perfectly fine why she felt that, he felt it himself. The thought of going after Itachi... it scared him, now more than ever. At the same time, he could be beaten, or at least tricked.

And if he had a team on his side... even Itachi would fall, still. It would be him that killed the bastard. He couldn't leave that to somebody else.

"No." He said. "I lied."

Sakura remained silent. Though he could just imagine her glaring at him. "I... I just needed to say something, to beat him somehow... to... to take away his power."

"I see." She whispered.

"And I don't think you can't do it." Well, he wouldn't admit that at any rate. And if he and Naruto helped... well, her chances were pretty good, teamwork and all that. "But I need to do it. I need to finish this. It's just... he doesn't need to know about it."

Snorting Sakura moved, he didn't see what she did, but he could hear her pad over the floor to his bed. Soon he felt a hand over his neck, touching the seal Orochimaru had place on his neck. "What about this?" She asked, standing beside him. He could feel her shaking, even now.

"Useless. It didn't do shit against Itachi, just made me loose control." He sneered, he remembered, his clone remembered how he looked, with the seal all over his face, faster than ever and Itachi still had no trouble beating him easily.

Only because Sakura threw that kunai, only because Jirayia saved Sakura, did they still breath. "Teamwork... is worth so much more than this." His hand brushed hers away, rubbing the seal. "It's annoying to even have it." Finally he looked at her, she looked back at him. He wondered how much she could see, she didn't have the sharingan after all, it didn't give him perfect night vision, but it did increase what he could see nicely.

"That... that was scarier than all the fights before." She whispered, he had to strain to hear it. "I... if Jirayia hadn't shown up..."

Sasuke nodded, if Jirayia hadn't shown up and driven both of them off. If Gai hadn't also shown up, who knew what would have happened.

"I know." He whispered back.

He could hear her take a deep breath. "I... Can I..." She faltered, he didn't know why. He could guess what she wanted and he didn't exactly mind. He could push her away, but that didn't mean Itachi wouldn't target her anyway, just to hurt him. No better to keep her close and train her to become stronger. He wouldn't have to worry about Itachi killing her then.

Still left the question of why she suddenly turned as shy as she did. "Can you?" He prompted, almost teasing.

She glared at him and snorted. "Forget it, I don't need reassurance that badly." Silently she returned to her own bed. He didn't exactly mind that either. He didn't think anything but cuddling would have happened, but still, he squashed the part of his mind that declared him insane for giving up this opportunity. He didn't need the distraction, no matter how nice it would be.

He closed his eyes, hopefully the nightmares would be a bit easier to take.

-o-

Temari stared at the various forms in front of her. Papers requesting supplies for the academy, papers dealing with the number of people they lost in the invasion, papers telling her how much money still remained in hidden Sands pockets. Not much.

The council had started testing her and they hadn't bother with subtleties, assholes.

The worst part of course, at least for Temari, was the fact that she held an incredible amount of responsibilities with some of these papers. Maybe the elders would go over them as soon as she dropped them off, maybe they wouldn't and see how she reacted when her decisions made or broke lives.

She whimpered as she stared at the request form for medical supplies. They only had one more crate of those and both the civilians and the ninja needed that crate.

Who would they go to. With the ninja population so decimated they couldn't afford to loose even one ninja.

But without the income the ninja provided for the village, the civilians brought much more money in, making their plight more important than that of the wounded ninja.

Could she split the crate? Each group getting half the medicine? She read the papers in question again and groaned, both groups claimed they needed to have at the very least three quarters of the crate to be of any use.

She pushed the papers to the side, maybe some merchant had shown up in the village and was willing to trade medicine? And gouging them to hell and back, no doubt. Sand and more importantly it's reputation had suffered greatly with the failed invasion. Far too greatly not to expect profiteers.

Rubbing her eyes she stood up and got herself a cup of tea. She even snorted at a silly little idea, what if they asked Konoha for medicine? It would come as a surprise, but if they combined the request with something to sweeten the deal? She looked at some of the scout reports. They had some idea where a few of Orochimaru's bases were hidden in Fire.

She rubbed her chin, and with Konoha intent on not ruining itself by starting a retaliation war, they might even be inclined to hand over some medicine... still left the matter of Gaara though, if they handed him over that should absolve them from any obligations to Sand. In fact it would make Sand stand deep in their dept.

She looked at the tea in her hand and set it down. Then she started slamming her head against a wall. She had always wondered why her father did it so often. Now she knew. She stopped almost immediately, this wouldn't do. Maybe he lost his brain doing just that? Hammer it out, one braincell at a time?

Her gaze fell on the table and the paperwork. She shuddered and walked out of the room. She needed a break, yeah that's what she needed, a break.

Maybe Kankuro would have an idea on how to solve this problem? At the very least she could joke around with him a bit. Relax and forget about stupid papers and stress for a few minutes. Stupid Kazekage position, she obviously wasn't suited for it.

-o-

Ino sat in front of Gaara, glaring slightly at him. Gaara looked back, with something akin to adoration. It unnerved her, that slightly unfocused gaze. The almost, but not quite, worship of her.

She had just beaten him in battle and not even alone! Why would he look at her like that?

They sat here like this for over half an hour, both staring at each other, neither saying a word. It had taken a lot out of Ino, not to start talking. She liked talking, it almost defined her. But she wouldn't be the first to break!

Gaara blinked and licked his lips. Ino blinked as well, but refused to lick her lips. Maybe he would finally talk?

"What?" She wanted to shout, dance and cry at the same time. Finally some action! Gaara had talked! "Why are you here?" Gaara asked, softly, incredibly so.

She barely recognized the psycho from the tournament, he had nearly nothing in common with this boy. The boy seemed soft, maybe even afraid of her. Though she supposed he had reasons to be afraid.

"How... how is your friend? The one who left the village." He asked her, trembling slightly.

So, he worried about Naruto? Well, that got him a plus point with Ino. Nothing more though.

"He's away." A few stories down, heavily sealed and hidden. "But he'll be back once he recovers." Or Gaara better hope so at least, because Hinata had become slightly frustrated and started training harder. Not that it helped her much, he worry over Naruto led to her making a multitude of mistakes. Still, the frustration, for once, didn't work itself out as anxiety, but as anger.

Anger, Kurenai had absolutely no problem focusing into tightly controlled aggression.

Apparently Hinata had improved considerably, in a very short time.

Still lost to her little sister though, but people attributed that to her not wanting to hurt the younger girl.

Ino had once used a clone, that looked like Gaara to train with Hinata... she still had nightmares about what the girl did to Ino's poor clone.

"That's good." Gaara muttered, after thinking it over carefully.

Without the eye rings he looked pretty cute actually. If only the scar on his forehead wasn't there, he might even look hot. Oh well, Ino had no real interest in him, beside the physical.

"It is, it means I don't have to kill you." Ino nodded.

"Yes." Gaara agreed calmly.

"So... you know anything useful you haven't mentioned yet?" She asked reluctantly. It was so hard to stay angry at him, especially when you tried to make him talk. He looked so damned innocent like that.

He narrowed his eyes a little bit, then shrugged. "I've already told them everything I know. I... didn't concern myself with the village politics... and father tried to keep me out of them anyway."

Ino nodded, she had feared as much. "Any techniques you can tell us about?" She asked. She would kill her father too. Stand around and be pretty her fine, fine ass. They had dumped her in a cell with the boy and told her to talk to him.

He shook his head again. "I only know the techniques the demon granted me... I didn't need anything else." He looked down, at the floor, clearly ashamed that he didn't know more.

Ino sighed, this was the reason she wouldn't make a good interrogator, she had far too much empathy for such one on one interrogations.

Awkward silence stretched between the two, neither knowing what to say to the other.

Finally Gaara opened his mouth again. "I... I wanted to thank you. You know, for what you did with Shukaku."

Ino glanced around the room, she hadn't done that much really. From what she had been told, Gaara had helped quite a bit. "Uhh, I didn't do that much really." She told him as well.

Raising an eyebrow Gaara shook his head. "It was the first time the damn thing shut up. He always, always talked... and I actually got some sleep then. Couldn't do that before."

Ino stared at him, since she sat down with him she realized again and again just how different he acted, once he had some sleep and no demon whispering whatever into his head.

Though she suspected his lack of weapons and chakra might play a part.

"Ehh, well I couldn't let you hurt my friends." She shrugged her shoulders and almost immediately regretted her words as Gaara seemed to sink into himself. What the hell did she say wrong now?

"Friends." He muttered. Oh, right, he said he didn't have any.

"Well, if you behave yourself and don't try to kill anybody from Konoha." She didn't add exceptions for her personal list of people who could die for all she cared. "We might become friends." She said, grinning slightly.

He looked at her, hope and suspicion battling on his face. "Do you mean that? Or are you just saying it to get me to talk?" He asked.

Ino considered the question. Did she say it so he would talk? Not really, she doubted he knew anything anyway, but still. She would love to get something out of him, if he had managed to hide something. Not that far fetched really, since nobody had really tried asking him the hard questions.

"A little bit of both." She said. "I think we can be friends, if you don't try to kill anybody I like. If I also get some info from you? All the better."

Gaara leaned his head to the side as he studied her. Then he shrugged. "Can I think about that?" He asked.

Ino glanced at the cell door, which opened and let her father in. He glanced at Gaara, gave him a quick nod and escorted Ino out of the cell.

Once the heavy door closed behind them he grinned at her. "Nice job darling." He hugged her, embarrassing her in front of everybody in the room, which meant that creepy Ibiki guy now had seen her father hugging her! Scary.

"Daaaaad!" She groaned, trying to pry him off her.

"Well, she'll never work here, that's for sure." Ibiki muttered amused, though he didn't seem too upset about it. "Luckily we are planning on giving him back, so any friendship she builds with him is actually a bonus for us. Might be he can act as eyes and ears for us?"

Her father had finally stopped embarrassing her and let her go, so Ino could stare at Ibiki. Did he really think Gaara would betray his village for her? Just like that?

She looked at the cell door. Come to think of it, he might. He didn't exactly have many reasons to be loyal to his village. Far fewer than Naruto had, certainly. Though now, that the story of how he challenged Gaara had become public, Ino could see how attitudes changed, not really that fast, his pranks and stunts were still present in the collective memory, but people did notice him now, and not in the bad way.

Ino could remember setting some assholes straight, who talked bad about Naruto. Some passers bye had even cheered her on at the end of her tirade. The jerks had run off, never to be seen again. At least by Ino.

She sighed, Naruto had gained his reasons to stay loyal, Gaara hadn't. Not even close. Though admittedly his attitude had something to do with it. Not that... gah. She didn't want to think about it.

"Can I go home now?" She asked the men around her.

Ibiki nodded. "Don't see why not. He'll probably think about it a while."

"Good, I need to think about stuff as well." And maybe try to talk her father into letting her and Hinata visit Naruto. The girl needed to see her boyfriend.

-o-

Sakura groaned as she finally woke up. Another night, another nightmare. Damn, she hated growing used to this. Sasuke tossed and turned in his bed, so she stumbled over to him and shook him awake. No point in letting him suffer trough his own nightmares.

He opened his eyes almost as soon as her hand touched his shoulder. "Morning." She muttered.

He stared at her for a few seconds, then nodded a greeting back. "Morning."

She stumbled on, at least this time she kept her food in her stomach... mentioning food, she didn't have anything to eat, or drink since yesterday. Ugh, no wonder she had a headache.

"Let's go get some breakfast." She groaned. "And maybe a doctor or something, I think my throat is one giant bruise, and Itachi sure did a number on you."

"Hnn." Sasuke grunted as he swung himself out of bed. Sakura looked at him, still fully clothed, just like her.

"And a bath... can't forget a bath."

Another "Hnn" came as the only answer from Sasuke. Did he still brood about Itachi?

Still, he followed her once she left the room and they entered the communal bath room and went into their respective rooms. Idly Sakura wondered why they were so close together, but it didn't bother her much. She quickly washed, carefully rubbing her bruises and scraps and right arm. Damn, those scars...

Afterward she quickly, wrapped new bandages around the scars, and pulled on her clean clothes. She could do her hair on the breakfast table, all she needed was a small hand mirror or even a kunai, to make sure she didn't make any glaring mistakes.

She came out of the bath in fifteen minutes. Sasuke had already left, she heard him about five minutes ago, so she went into the common room. Her stomach growled loudly as soon as the smells hit her. With wide eyes she stared at the spread on the table Jirayia had seated himself at.

Sasuke had already started stuffing himself, uncaring of any looks he might get. Hell even Naruto showed better manners than Sasuke... or herself. When had she crossed the distance and started snarfing down the food?

She had already gulped down three glasses of juice, before she began to slow down. Jirayia grinned at the both of them as they ignored all rules of good behavior.

"Well, you two seem famished." He chuckled and ordered some more food for himself. "Though I guess you also didn't get the opportunity to eat much yesterday."

Sasuke shrugged, he had already slowed down to a much more polite level, but then, he did have a snack yesterday.

In contrast, Sakura ignored the two of them, instead focusing on the sausage in front of her, scratch that half a sausage, none. She happily stuffed a piece of bread into her mouth. Ahhh a full stomach equaled bliss.

"Well, as soon as you are ready, pack your things, we're moving on. We shouldn't have to worry about Itachi or his friends anymore." Jirayia said.

Sasuke suddenly stiffened and glared at the man. "You knew." He said.

Jirayia didn't even try to deny the accusation. "I knew, yes. And I must say... you have exceeded my expectations, by quite a bit. Telling Itachi to go fuck himself? No mean feat Sasuke." He looked the boy in the eyes. "In fact, it's the first step to really beat him, even if you didn't mean certain things. Not following his words? That will be your greatest strength against him."

Sasuke snorted. "I'm still so weak." He sighed.

Rolling his eyes Jirayia leaned back. "What did you expect? Itachi is just as much a genius as you are. And he did have a far earlier start into the realities of the ninja life than you. And while I admit, that having your entire clan slaughtered before your eyes come close... it's nothing compared to fighting in a war."

"So you're saying I should just roll over and die then?" Sasuke roared, causing everybody else in the room to stare at him, only to quickly look back at their food, as soon as Sasuke returned the look.

"No, I'm saying you should be realistic. Itachi started earlier than you, he went through far harsher conditioning. You won't catch up to him one year out of the academy." Jirayia glared right back.

Sasuke rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I know, I know. But, I got so angry yesterday."

Sakura watched them quietly, she had nothing to say really. Not as if she could even come close to Itachi. She gripped her fork much harder than necessary.

"And that's why regaining control of yourself and telling him off yesterday was the first step to really beat him." Jirayia said. "You'll have no chance to beat him, if you loose control of yourself, if you drown in your hatred. You'll need a clear head. Quick thinking and a plan, to beat him. Even a weaker opponent can beat a stronger one if he can negate enough advantages of the stronger opponent."

Sasuke nodded, he had managed to lead Gaara around, slowly whittling away on his defenses, until he saw a breach. Gaara had been stronger than Sasuke, but he had a weakness. Sakura didn't think Itachi had one, he seemed too perfect for something like that.

Sasuke echoed her thought. "I managed to beat Gaara that way, but Itachi?"

"Gaara was easy compared to Itachi, but that's just a question of patience, if you don't try to face of against Itachi unless you have some confidence that you are strong enough to face him without immediately breaking, then you can start planning the confrontation." Jirayia admitted.

Sasuke sighed, but didn't complain anymore.

"So, since they know Naruto isn't with us, no more shadowclones?" Sakura asked, on the one hand hopeful, on the other she needed the training.

"Nah, they can help you get the strokes just right on your seals. You still make a few mistakes on them." Jirayia grinned. "Anyway, lets hurry up, we have some walking to do and you slept through half the day already."

Sakura and Sasuke stared at each other, then at the clock on the wall. "Twelve already?" Sakura asked, slightly shocked. She didn't oversleep usually, especially not with those nightmares.

"You had some rather tiring experiences yesterday. Also, we need to go see a medic and have you two looked at. No point risking a major injury, Tsunade could heal that sure, but who knows when we'll find her." Jirayia explained and got up. "Well? Hurry up already."

Sakura looked at the table and found herself surprised at just how empty it was. Nothing remained, but a few scraps. She felt so full and she could nap again. She ignored the feeling though and quickly followed Sasuke, to pack their things.

-o-

Sasuke watched the people run around the city, they had just arrived after another tiring day, first of training shadowclones, this time their original form, and practicing the same damn strokes over and over again. Jirayia had given them some weird chakra ink, that disappeared if you didn't apply it just right.

Sakura had asked when they would actually get down to the theory of sealing, but Jirayia had brushed them off. Telling them that most wold rather learn a useful seal first, then delve into how the seal actually worked.

And so they practiced the same strokes again and again, until they had them just right. Then Jirayia had them practice other strokes, until they had them down.

By the time they reached the city, Sasuke had to force his eyes to stay open, he felt so exhausted. Sakura had done a bit better. Sure her clone had dispelled almost twice as fast as Sasuke's, but she could work with the sealing much better. She already was on her fifth set of strokes, instead of Sasuke who had only reached his third.

He really wished Jirayia had gone with some sort of ninjutsu. It would have been so much easier to learn that. Even without the sharingan.

Jirayia had expressively prohibited him from using his eyes to learn the strokes. And Sasuke knew why he did it. Every Uchiha knew that you had to practice a technique to master it. Though most of them didn't bother learning even one tenth of the techniques they copied with their eyes. It was just a waste of time, they could use them well enough to be useful in combat, but most of the time they wouldn't be needed anyway. The time needed to really learn the technique could be better spend to master one that the Uchiha actually used fairly often.

Or it had been that way once upon a time, when the Uchiha clan had still existed. His eyes wandered to Sakura's hips. And shot up straight ahead. No, not thinking about those hips giving birth to his kids.

Think of what they would look like, pink hair! Though from what he had seen her father had blonde hair. Only her mother had pink hair. And really, pink haired girls weren't so bad. Might even make their enemies underestimate them... he whimpered. Did he really just think of Sakura as the mother of his children?

Sure, she had changed and sure she had already killed, protecting him and Naruto from enemies while they couldn't do it themselves. And yeah, she had helped immensely against Itachi, by saving him from looking into those eyes of Itachi...

And she didn't look all that bad either, she had a nice ass.

He took a deep breath. Itachi had been right. He had become too attached to her. But he didn't want to stop it. After he killed Itachi, he needed to rebuild the clan. And he needed to think about it now. After all, he needed to have an idea which qualities were needed in a woman.

She had to be strong, to defend the kids against the Uchiha's enemies.

She had to be smart, to be able to teach the kids how to become strong ninja.

She had stand up to him, so she could force him to pay attention to the kids if he didn't do it, instead of making the kids go crazy like Itachi... huh where did that come from?

And hell while he thought about it, her looking nice would also be good.

Sakura fit that bill quiet nicely. Maybe not the strength thing, not yet, but she was working on that, and she did made some strides.

"Are you thinking about your strokes, or Sakura's ass?" Jirayia whispered into Sasuke's ear, eliciting a twitch from Sasuke, he hadn't even noticed Jirayia sneak up. And damn, Sakura's ass had a certain hypnotic quality to it... he stared some more. Maybe they could capture a few enemies...

"She noticed you staring by the way." Jirayia added. "Why do you think she's swaying that way?"

Sasuke fought it, he really did, but he couldn't help the blush, he couldn't help it at all.

"Let's just get to to the hotel alright?" He muttered. Oh he would never live this down. Never! At least Naruto hadn't been with them. It would have been so much worse then.

He just wished he could stop, but since Sakura had held that kunai to his throat... he started to mind less and less when he did catch himself staring.

-o-

Libido giggled as he ran through the city. Since the fight he could move a little bit easier, the massive army of Itachis had broken down quickly, much quicker than he had thought. And now fewer paroled the streets, he could move much easier. Even with the destruction the snake creature had wrought the city seemed brighter. Might just be the buildings that had collapsed though.

Anyway, he had stolen a lot of food for them, beaten quite a few Itachis and now was on his way out of the city with his loot.

Life definitely was looking up. He twirled out of a strike by a lone Itachi and retaliated with his own sword, grinning broadly.

Why couldn't it have been like this always? So light and easy?

"Hey!" Somebody hissed from a side street. "Libido! Over here." Libido looked at whoever called him, oh Selfreflection again. Libido had wanted to talk to him, so he walked over.

"Hey, what's up?" He asked.

Selfreflection rolled his eyes. "You are entirely too chipper, you know that?" He grumbled.

Libido shrugged, things were going great for him, why shouldn't he be chipper?

"Anyway, something changed with the book, come on." He grabbed Libido and dragged him after himself.

"Huh what changed?" Libido asked, not particularly bothered, by whatever had Selfreflection's panties in a twist.

"The book, there's been some changes there." Came the hissed reply.

"You said that already." Libido pointed out. "Probably something to do with that snake thing from yesterday." Shrugging he looked around, maybe he could remember where that building stood this time around.

"No, when that thing came the text just became stronger, but as soon as it disappeared... the text had changed."

He led Libido through the same twisted passages as last time, though Libido could keep up at least part way, he wouldn't be able to follow the path. Soon they stood in the same creepy room, though there seemed to be a few less corpses and eyes?

Libido walked over to the book and glanced in. "The same words still stood there, but also something else. "Hatred distracts you and makes you sloppy, friends will save you and each other."

He looked at Selfreflection. "Uhh so? Seems to make sense. Doesn't it?"

"Well, yes. But it directly contradicts the first sentence." Selfreflection growled.

Libido nodded. "Yeah, that didn't make all that much sense to me anyway, when I was at my strongest I didn't exactly hate the Itachis, I just looked down on them."

Selfreflection groaned. "But how am I supposed to make sense of this?"

Rolling his eyes Libido walked to the escape route, he had to bring the food to family. She actually groaned every now and again. And her general condition seemed to be improving as well.

"No idea, this isn't exactly my job is it? I would just enjoy myself. Even if it means we have to fight the Itachis a bit later. I mean what's the point of beating them, but loosing all joy in life? We might as well have lost then."

"What's the point of enjoying yourself, but loosing to Itachi?" Selfreflection shot back.

"We had some fun while doing it?" Libido replied. But yeah, you had to be careful there. "Maybe a balanced approach of enjoying yourself and growing stronger? Anyway, I have things to do, see ya." This place gave him the creeps too. Stupid corpses, how could Selfreflection stay here so long?

"Ugh fine! Leave me alone to deal with this eh?" Libido heard Selfreflection shout after him.

-o-

Sakura grinned as she took a bath. Sasuke had stared at her ass! And he had just watched harder when she started swaying. Ohh, just wait till she told Ino about this, she would be so jealous.

Now she just had to become strong enough to fight Itachi without dying in the first few seconds and she would be set. Oh and the people as strong as Itachi, like his partner.

She submerged herself in the bath water. She had to grow stronger, if she ever wanted to be together with Sasuke. If she didn't grow stronger, death seemed like the most likely option.

She sat there for a while, just enjoying the water on her muscles. Soothing the various pangs of pain. Sasuke had invited her to the small festival in the town, to relax he said. More like to distract himself from the thoughts of how close the both of them had come to dieing at Itachi's hands.

She wondered why he had invited her to the festival, she would have thought he would have insisted on more training. Maybe Jirayia had something to do with it?

Whatever, she shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. Maybe he really just wanted to distract himself, it was possible! Unlikely but possible.

She got out of the tub, dried herself and sat down in front of the mirror, she guessed she could use her chakra to clean her body as well as her hair. Maybe even easier, but bathing felt so much better.

Half an hour later she had finished with her hair and she pulled on her clothes. Maybe she didn't look as pretty as other girls, but she could kill a man easily and that counted for far more as far as Sasuke was concerned.

Skipping out of the bath room she had rented, she came face to face with Sasuke. Also clean, also in his usual clothes.

"You ready?" He grunted, as gruff as ever. Not that she had expected anything different, small steps she reminded herself. He had asked her out after all.

"Yup, so lets go." She hooked her arm under his and led him out of the building. He shifted uncomfortably, but didn't protest.

Soon they mingled with the civilians of the town, ducking into various stands, playing some games, which they always won. Ahh being a ninja had it's perks.

After a while they simply strolled along the streets, letting themselves drift.

"So... why the invitation?" Sakura asked.

Sasuke stiffened for a second, before he forced himself to relax again. "Just felt like it." He replied. And Sakura totally believed that.

"Oh?" She stopped in front of a very brightly lit building. "Feel like going in here as well?" She leered at him.

Sasuke took one look at the building, then at her, back to the building again and he dragged her away quickly. "What the hell is that doing here?" He asked, red from head to toe.

"You were leading, I just assumed..." She smirked. She had noticed them pass that building before and once she noticed they were passing it again she just had to tease him. "But seriously. Why the invitation. The same with the theater last town."

He looked away. "You just... it seemed like a good idea."

"Suppose so." She answered. "Want me to let go?"

He nodded and with a sigh she let go of his arm. At least he had let her hold on this long. "Thanks." She smiled at him. He looked away again, a slight blush showing on his face. "Just trying to help out." He grumbled.

Sakura rolled her eyes, as if he would do the same for Naruto. She snickered quietly. Maybe not the same, but he would have been quite willing to beat the stuffing out of Naruto. Come to think of it... "How about we go to some secluded spot, outside the city..." She whispered in his ear, feeling him stiffen beneath her, as she hung off his shoulder. "And proceed to beat each other up, until we can't stand anymore."

Smirking she marched on, Sasuke had even stopped breathing for a second, whether out of indignation or desire she had no idea, probably the first though.

"Tease." He spat, stopping her in her tracks.

"Huh?" She whirled around. "What did you say?" He stood there an eyebrow raised.

"Nothing?"

She stalked over to him, she had heard tease, she was sure of it!

"You said something." She purred, slowly stepping around him.

He didn't seem particularly worried however. "Maybe, but you'll only know if you manage to beat me on our little spar." He continued walking, ignoring her.

And he called her a tease!

-o-

Sasuke watched, as Sakura stood there in the dusk. At night she would be at a disadvantage and even now his eyes provided him with several advantages. But she might surprise him and he had to worry about her poisons, she probably had quite a few of those with her.

"Shouldn't we have told Jirayia" He asked, just to get this fight started, they had watched each other for over a minute now, waiting for the other to make the first move.

"Eh, I'm sure he can find us just fine, if he really wants to." Sakura countered.

Sasuke nodded, probably right. "So who wins?"

"Last woman standing."

"Or man." He countered.

"Eh, I doubt you'll even be awake." She smirked at him, quite confident. A shame he hadn't been able to fight her at the tournament, really. It would have been interesting.

In one fluid motion he pulled out a kunai and flung it at her. She dodged, pulled her forehead protector down and broke any possible genjutsu he might have cast on her.

Chuckling he shifted his position. So she tried to avoid the sharingan eh? "You haven't trained fighting blind you know?"

"I'm training it now." She replied, though she seemed aware of how little sense that made.

"Ah, of course." He rolled his eyes and flung another kunai, just missing her as she dodged far too late. "I thought you wanted to spar, not have me throw kunai at you until you can dodge them without seeing them."

"Well I would love to, but your pretty red eyes would make fighting you without the blindfold just as suicidal. At least I might learn something this way." She countered, flinging her own kunai into his direction.

"Hmm." He didn't move it went wide anyway, just like the next few kunai. Only one actually needed to be dodged. He felt certain that one was a real miss, as all of them had wires trailing behind them. Wires infused with chakra.

"Trying to see with the chakra are you?" He asked, as he jumped out of the way. Only to hop over one of the wires, as it jumped up, almost snaring his feet.

"Close!" He taunted. Only to promptly dodge another wire, this one missed him by a good margin though.

He watched as the wires settled down again, while he flew through the air.

"Can't catch me!" He shouted as he landed and the wires lashed out at him again.

Still, her handicap meant that her aim sucked and he just stepped aside. He frowned for a second, jumped back a bit and came down heavy on the ground.

Sakura didn't react to that sound. "You need to listen not just to my voice, also the sound of my footsteps." He lectured her, quickly evading the two wires coming his way.

"What do you think I'm doing?" She growled back at him.

"Standing there looking stupid?"

"You are so getting yours for that one." She howled and flung more kunai at him.

Though if she actually felt angry, or merely wanted him to think so, he couldn't tell. With her eyes hidden, telling her mood proved a bit difficult.

In any case, he nimbly avoided the kunai, avoided the other wires she send after him and jumped outside her range. From here he could drive her around easily.

And now he flung kunai after kunai at her. He had more than enough to keep this up for a while, as she dodged, or tried to dodge again and again. Soon her top and her pants had a lot of holes in them, as she didn't exactly manage to avoid most of the projectiles. She got better though, the last kunai almost hadn't scratched her. Almost.

"You know? If you wanted to see me naked? There are faster ways!" She shouted at him.

He didn't react, he had expected her to bait him like that. And while he did have some rather interesting responses planned, he wouldn't give away his position like that.

He shifted his foot slightly and blinked. Why did it feel as if he had just touched...

He glanced down, right at a kunai, that had quickly wrapped itself around his leg. "Shit!"

"Gottcha!" Sakura crowed and pulled on her wire, flinging him off his feet and towards her. He could briefly see the other kunai coming his way, like a swarm of silver snakes.

With very, very deadly teeth. And he really didn't want to be caught. "Sorry, I'm not interested in bondage." He shouted as he cut the wire holding him.

Hmm, why was innuendo the first thing that came to his mind in this situation? Didn't he have anything better?

"But I've learned so many fun knots from Anko." Sakura pointed out cheerfully.

Ah, Anko, of course. She loved to pepper her fights with innuendo, if she could.

The wires whirled around him, just as his tomoe whirled in his eyes.

His blades flashed out again and again, hitting the wires, hitting the kunai on the end of the wires. But since the wires weren't taunt, he couldn't cut them. He could retreat, but he refused to, he wanted to fight!

With a roar he sped up and his kunai seemed to become a blur, if Sakura had watched, he bet she wouldn't have seen a thing. As she didn't watch, she didn't see anything anyway, but her wires couldn't keep up with Sasuke, yet. A second later he had repelled all kunai and had a small window of opportunity.

He jumped forward, gripping the wires under his feet with chakra, keeping them on the ground, even as he ran forward.

Sakura grinned savagely as the wires he didn't touch swept in from left and right. He jumped and, twisting in the air, he grabbed the incoming wires, wound them around his arm and pulled.

He couldn't help the grimace as he remembered why Sakura wore her bandages, the wires didn't manage to cut his flesh, but they hurt like a bitch.

Still he had managed to rip Sakura from her position and into him, rearing his fist back he prepared for the impact. Sakura twisted in the air, rowing with her arms, trying to stabilize her position. But she flew too fast to regain control now. His fist connected with her face, sending her flying back again with a pained grunt.

He felt a ting of regret for a second, but he could still see the grin she sprouted, which killed whatever regret he might have had rather quickly.

As did the wire that somehow found it's way around his throat. "Gotcha!" Sakura shouted, only to grunt as her back made contact with the ground.

Sasuke would have answered, if he had the air to speak. He preferred to use his now limited supply to remove the wire, or at least attempt to remove it. Sakura send her remaining wires to his hands, and kept them from cutting the one on his throat. He glared at her, she wouldn't... a smirk stole itself onto his lips and his eyes sharingan spun wildly.

Suddenly the pressure on his throat lessened and he could move his hands again, just a second and he won this fight. Genjutsu truly were the greatest weapon ever conceived.

"Kai!" Sakura screamed, as she had apparently realized that she could see him, since he had punched her forehead protector off her eyes.

And now he had only a second to cut the wire and not loose the fight, Sakura tried to get his arms under control again, but he had build up his momentum and Sakura had to reorient herself. His left hand grabbed the wire around his throat and pulled it taunt, while his right hand brought the kunai down. Not even a second later he could taste the sweet air again.

Greedily he sucked it in, not paying attention to Sakura, since she had apparently given up her attempt to strangle him.

"If I say... I'm not into bondage... that includes... asphyxiation." He gasped.

"How about plain masochism?" Sakura asked, way, way too close.

Her fist slammed into his face, sending him into the ground, closely followed by Sakura, who tried to ram her knees into his stomach. If he hadn't rolled sideways almost immediately...

He pushed himself up and off the ground, trying to tackle her, but his awkward position made that little trick difficult and Sakura managed to not only evade him, but plant her fists into his chest as well.

He only managed to grab part of her dress, that gave way far too easy, since he had cut it to ribbons already.

"I thought you weren't interested in seeing me naked." Sakura said, while lunging for him.

"I would like to go on record for saying we are hanging our around Anko far, far too much." Sasuke countered with a kick that managed to find her face, sending her tumbling for the ground again.

And Sasuke followed her, not willing to give her even a second to recover.

She tried to get up and reacquire her target, but she just couldn't move fast enough and her forehead protector had slipped again, allowing Sasuke to see her eyes again.

Not that she could do much, once he managed to jump on top of her and hold her arms down. He also knelt on her tights, preventing her from kicking him there, he really liked those in one piece.

And he knew what would come now.

"So, what do you plan to do now that you have caught me?" Sakura purred, though her labored breathing ruined the delivery.

"Not gonna work, I wouldn't even let Anko go from this... especially not her." Sasuke said, rolling his eyes. Carefully he slipped his hands into Sakura's preventing her from even moving her fingers.

"You give? Or do I have to knock you out?" He knew she would be trying to bring her wires into position, he could feel them moving in the night.

Sakura slackened though and sighed. "I give, you win. This time."

He nodded and rolled off her. "Seriously though, we are taking on far too many of Anko's bad habits." He muttered.

Beside him she nodded. "I know, but I can't do anything about it... it just, kinda slips out."

"Though Lee's face would be amusing when you do that." Sasuke imagined it. The look of pure confusion on his face.

"Or on Naruto's face when you do it to him." Sakura licked her lips.

"That was an accident and you promised never to bring it up again." Sasuke shuddered. How could he have said that?

"Ok, ok." Sakura chuckled weakly. "So, are we going to ask Jirayia to teach us fighting blind?" She asked him.

Sasuke considered it, even with the sharingan, not needing to see Itachi sounded useful.

If he could dictate when Itachi would see his eyes... "Sure." He said.

"Also let's make Anko pay for corrupting us." Sakura added.

"Once we are home, yes."

-o-

Thanks again to ZusVayo for reading through and catching all my errors.


	17. Sanin

Expectations of Development

-o-

Sanin

-o-

Jirayia stared at his two students, a small smile on his lips. "You want me, to teach you, how to fight blind." He stated.

"Yes." Sakura agreed. Sasuke merely nodded, but Jirayia hadn't expected anything else from him.

"And where should I include this in your schedule? In between the chakra building exercise, the sealing techniques, and your respective other training?" He raised an eyebrow. He admired their desire to learn. But the day had only so many hours.

"Well, we can do it while we build our chakra obviously. Don't clones help with learning anyway?" Sakura asked.

"Yes, but in your case you have trouble keeping the clone up for more than a few minutes." Jirayia pointed out.

"All the more reasons to do some learning as soon as the clone disappears. I mean, I can't do much else then anyway." Sakura tried to counter him.

"And how much will you remember afterward? In your exhausted state you aren't exactly the most receptive to training." Jirayia rolled his eyes. Genin always wanted to move faster than they could, or even should, move.

Or they didn't have a drive of their own. Nothing really wrong with that actually, that's why they were genin, to develop that drive before they had some really dangerous missions.

"What about Sasuke? He can learn it at least." Sakura tried a different track. And while Sasuke didn't seem interested in the conversation, he failed to fool Jirayia.

"He could, maybe. But he's not that much stronger than you. At least as far as shadowclones are concerned. Twice as long as ten minutes is still only twenty minutes and he's pretty exhausted afterward as well." Jirayia explained.

"I can keep it up for much longer." Sasuke huffed.

"And you pay for it. Twenty minutes is a good time to build up your chakra, without driving yourself to total exhaustion. Your reserves recover fast enough to give it another try in half an hour. Not so if you drive yourself to total exhaustion." He shook his head. "Really, you two are expecting too much of yourselves. There's only so much you can do without ruining your body."

Sakura hung her head and Sasuke glared at the surrounding trees.

"Look, it's true, if you drive yourselves to exhaustion now you can improve much faster. But in the end you also burn yourselves out much faster. By the time you're twenty your bodies will be running on empty, only kept up by your willpower, nothing more. You'll be wrecks, only barely keeping your edge in combat." Jirayia sighed. He hid it well, and thanks to Tsunade both him and Orochimaru had been able to ignore a good deal of the damage done to their bodies.

Still, he felt every single one of his earlier excesses. The slight dull pain on his left leg, the painful pull on his back, if he bowed slightly. He could ignore it, sure. But even so twenty or more years of running around with that sort of pain reminded him of why the training excesses weren't exactly the best idea.

Orochimaru probably didn't have to deal with that, seeing as he had taken on new bodies for himself, every time his old body came close to breaking down.

"I don't care, I need to become stronger. Itachi..." Sasuke growled angrily. Sakura looked at him, sympathy filling her eyes.

"Me too, if I want to help Sasuke..." She added.

Ugh kids, chasing after the moon. Well, not as if he hadn't been like that once. "Fine, but we'll start that training after we come back to Konoha. And Sasuke if you had listened you would have understood that Itachi is already on the decline. He taxed his body to the limit more than once. If you knew what to watch for you could have seen the signs, the little twitches, the favoring of this or that posture..."

Sakura stared at him. "I didn't see anything like that. And I did pay attention." She said, confused.

Jirayia coughed. "Well... you have to be really experienced to notice, he's very good at hiding it." As am I. "And ignoring pain is a thing a ninja has to do well."

"So what? He's on the decline and he can still crush me with pathetic ease?" Sasuke sighed, slumping in his seat.

"No, he's on the decline and from now on, you will grow stronger much faster than he will. He might even become weaker from now on. Though I wouldn't count on it, he's still only in the early stages, once he's half my age, then he'll only grow weaker.

"For now, he'll only improve slower, while you will improve at an ever growing rate. If you don't overtax your body. You can't switch it like Orochimaru and avoid the consequences. You can't depend on Tsunade to patch you up... yet. After we get her to come back?"

He grinned. "She might let you train till you drop and then fix you up again. She might even be able to heal you completely by now, without making her slight mistakes, like she did with me."

Sakura glared at him with narrowed eyes, then nodded. "Fine, I suppose we shouldn't expect Itachi to come across us any time soon. Not without Naruto here anyway."

"Damn him, he won't get Naruto." Sasuke growled. "Not him too."

Jirayia smiled into his cup. Sasuke had come far, and by now he considered his team as maybe more important than his family. Well, not quite that important, but very, very important all the same.

-o-

Libido smiled as he looked down on family. She moaned weakly and tossed and turned in her sleep. She hadn't woken up, but her situation had improved dramatically. She had barely moved before.

Teamwork slept on the other side of the cave, the battle wounds were gone already, they were gone the second the battle had ended. Or at least Libido had noticed that they were gone then. For all he knew they had disappeared the second the blade left her body.

Still she had been exhausted after the battle, exhausted but happy.

He stirred the pot and smiled to himself. Soon family would wake up, then they were three, and then... well he didn't know. They had beaten Guilt and Pride and their army of Itachis easily enough. But they had fought against a monster at that time. And they had that snake thing with them too.

Who knew what would have happened had they not been distracted.

-o-

Danzo looked over the papers on the desk. The two soft fools were looking at the genin who had fought in the exams. Trying to make some recommendations for the new Hokage. This should be his position, but he could wait, chances were Tsunade wouldn't come back anyway, no matter what Jirayia said. And even if she did come back, soon it would be apparent that she couldn't deal with the threats of this world effectively and Danzo's chance would come.

"So, the Uchiha's loyalties are too suspect." The old weakling said. "I still say we should promote him. His use of genjutsu was inspiring, he managed to crack Gaara's armor with little problems."

Danzo shook his head. "He's ready, or at least as ready as somebody as young as he can be. But the loyalty issue is still there. We can't risk him following his clans path. Let's wait another year. They are rather young, they won't think anything of it."

The two looked at each other and nodded. "Neji?" The old hag asked.

"No, he's made too many mistakes, using this as a way to show off is acceptable, it's the whole reason for the tournament, but doing it and loosing? No, he's too arrogant. Next time maybe."

This time there were no looks, both simply nodded and pulled out the next file. "Tenten?"

Danzo rubbed his chin. "She did well against Gaara, she might have lost, but she managed to drive him around the arena quite well. Only after she had exhausted her supply of explosives did she give up." He looked at them.

"Yes, she's demonstrated that she knows when to give up, and how to attack an enemies weakness."

Danzo snorted, if Gaara had used Shukaku from the very beginning, his sand armor wouldn't have had a weakness.

Still. "She's on the list for recommendations then." He agreed.

"Speaking of knowing when to give up. Uzumaki?"

They rubbed their chins, then shook their heads. "He's too reckless, too willing to go for risky tactics. And it's questionable how he would do as a team-leader. He might just lead them to their doom."

"So, that's a no." Danzo agreed, Naruto would make a fine weapon,a leader though? Maybe as a figurehead. He did seem to inspire people very well indeed.

"Nara next." He looked at the notes.

"Difficult, he's not done bad. Especially against Uzumaki. Though I suspect he would have lost, had the referee not stopped the match." The old hag said.

"He did display great skills at reading his enemy." Danzo pointed out.

He considered it. "Yes, and he only lost because she used poison..."

"He's on the list then." Danzo asked and received nods from both.

"Lee?" He asked, but both shook their heads.

"He's got no defense against genjutsu. After he acquires those, he might give us a bit more to go on. As it is... too little to form an accurate judgment."

"Off the list then. Gaara?" After all, just because you attempted to attack the village didn't mean you couldn't be assessed for later. Especially if you went back to your village. If Danzo had been in charge Sand would have been razed for their foolish attack. But sadly those soft fools were in charge and wanted peace with Sand.

"Same as Lee, any genjutsu defense and we might think about it." With a great deal of satisfaction Danzo crossed him off the list.

"Which leaves Haruno." He looked at them.

They shrugged. "She did well, though her opponents arrogance enabled her for the most part."

Danzo knew that arrogance well, it had bitten him a few more times than he cared to admit. Still, for a genin she seemed well aware that sometimes though decisions had to be made. "She seems capable to lead." He added. "Her mission did gain us a jinchuriki." That you want to give away again. He didn't add, he didn't need to. They knew his opinion well enough.

"And crippled our own jinchuriki in the mission." The old fool piped up.

"A regrettable loss, but not her fault, she shouldn't have had to deal with a released jinchuriku as a genin, not even as a chunin. The fact that she managed to capture it." Danzo nodded to himself, if he could grab her, shape her...

"I say she's on the list. I'm even willing to take her on as my apprentice." The fact that she had no special talents... he had been in the same situation. Nowhere near as soft of course, but she could hardly be blamed for that, the academy didn't have his standards after all. He had no doubt, if she had been driven into root she would have been magnificent.

They narrowed their eyes at him and he sighed. No chance of gaining her now he supposed. Oh well, he didn't have to sell it to them, only to her.

"She's on the list, yes." They agreed, neither mentioning his plans for her. They knew they didn't have the power to stop him anyway. Though he didn't have the power to stop them either. Damn stalemates.

"The meetings finished then. I have other things to deal with. Cleaning up the mess Hiruzen left for us will take quite a while."

He nodded to them and left. Oh yes, it would take quite a while to deal with the chaos and once he had finished it, he would have that much more power in Konoha. Another step closer to Hokage.

He smiled thinly.

-o-

Anko watched Naruto as he slept. He hadn't so much as twitched, the entire time. Though sometimes she thought she felt the slightest movement of chakra. But that might just be his normal flow. A body couldn't survive without chakra after all. And while his chakra coils might have been ruined his internal systems were still intact.

The fox had a frightening amount of control if he could pull that one off.

"Don't you dare give up kid. Your teammates are going for help and if you somehow die, I'll personally get Orochimaru to resurrect you, so I can kill you all over again." She growled at him.

Damn, those kids were corrupting her. She hadn't grown attached to anybody like this in ages! Even Kurenai didn't bring out those reactions. The Hokage himself hadn't... she wiped away a tear, glad nobody could see her now. So maybe the Hokage brought out the same sadness. And maybe the thought of loosing Kurenai frightened her just as much. But still, that this brash idiot had somehow wormed his way into her heart.

And the rest of team seven as well. Even the uptight Uchiha. She understood him all too well though. Different coping mechanisms maybe, but ultimately the same cause. Betrayal.

She petted Naruto's head. Of course, he didn't move, he couldn't move. Sighing she turned away. She had hoped he would slap her hand away in mock annoyance.

"It's difficult isn't it?" Kakashi asked.

"Damn it. Where did you come from?" Anko growled, she hadn't even heard him show up. "And shouldn't you still be in your nice and cozy hospital bed?" She didn't need to worry about him as well.

Oh god those kids would suffer once they came back, they had infected her with their weird notions of friendship and caring and blarg!

"Hmm? Oh well, you see I've realized that the hospital bed would be too stressful for me." He explained.

"Oh? Did Gai come to cheer you up?" She asked, innocently.

He narrowed his eye at her. "Yes, he mentioned that I might need some cheering up. So, who might have mentioned that to him?"

Anko shrugged, and looked at him with wide, innocent, and open eyes. "Not me. I haven't talked to Gai in weeks."

Totally true too. She had only talked to his clone. Same effect really, but she had the perfect alibi.

"I see. Just so you know, once I find the person who informed him, that person will be punished." He clenched his fists.

Anko grinned at him. "Should I confess? I bet the punishment could be interesting."

She blinked as she realized she saw the slightest sliver of pink on his face. The hell? From what she knew about him he shouldn't be able to blush.

"I didn't mean it like that." He said blandly. Only to grin at her. "Though if you are confessing I think I have a few punishments ready."

He pulled out his little book. Anko snorted. "In front of your student?"

"It will be educational." He nodded.

Ohh, tempting, of course, the boy wouldn't wake up, so she didn't see any point to it. And Kakashi hadn't been serious anyway. He stepped beside Naruto and looked down at the boy.

"They are going to bring Tsunade back, she'll heal the brat and we can go right back to torturing him again." Anko muttered. Hoping she wasn't just trying to make herself believe that.

"Hmm... yes, yes you are absolutely right. They'll pull it off, no doubt about that." Kakashi laughed cheerfully.

They both fell silent and didn't say a word for the next few minutes, just staring at Naruto.

"I should have taught them stronger jutsu." Kakashi finally muttered.

Anko rolled her eyes. "And what difference would it have made? Not as if he wouldn't have needed the Kyuubi to pull them off with enough force to beat Gaara."

"He would have other options than this." He sighed.

"And what could we have taught him? Give me one example!" Anko growled.

"Jirayia could have taught him the toad summoning." Kakashi answered.

"And what guarantees that he would have summoned a toad big enough?"

"He could have."

"And how much chakra would he have needed? More or less than he used for his henge?" Anko stared at him with narrowed eyes. "Stop the self flagellation already. I'm not blaming myself. And I trained Haruno."

He raised an eyebrow. "And what has that to do with anything?"

"You mean beside the fact that she led the entire merry group?" She shook her head. "If I had trained her in leading people, she might have come up with something better, if I had given her some real poison training she could have just killed Gaara, if if if..." Her shoulders slumped.

"It's a loosing game. I've realized that a while ago." She whispered.

Kakashi looked away, but he just couldn't help himself, he had to get that last jab in. "And you still play it."

She glared at him. "Are you incapable of keeping your mouth shut Hatake? It's not that hard."

He shrugged. "Gai's volunteered to take over the guard. We can... go and relax a bit."

She looked at Naruto, sighed and nodded. "I guess. This, this is taking it's toll. The little brat should be running around, making me want to kill him. Not... not being so still."

"Yes." Kakashi chuckled. "He should be running around and inspiring murder."

-o-

Sakura looked around as they entered the city, it looked like the last one. Maybe a bit more prosperous.

"Hmm, that's interesting." Jirayia muttered.

"What is?" Sasuke asked, quite clearly bored. They had trained hard, not quite until they fell over unconscious, but they came pretty close.

"There should be a castle here, but it's missing." Jirayia pointed at a large amount of rubble, where once, presumably, had stood a castle.

A civilian ran past them, until Jirayia grabbed his arm. "What happened here?" He asked, Sakura noticed though that he kept an eye on Sasuke. Who twitched slightly every now and again. Barely noticeable, by anybody who didn't know him well enough. Sakura however had spend enough time around him, and staring at him, to know when he tried to hide his pain.

"What's wrong Sasuke?" She asked.

He glared at her and shook his head. "Nothing, my neck is just a bit sore from the training."

Jirayia raised an eyebrow. "Your neck or the seal."

Blinking Sasuke's hand went to the seal. He snorted and shook his head. "Both, I didn't notice because both hurt. The seal's fading though."

The civilian stared at them. "Uhh can I go now?" He asked tugging futilely at Jirayia's arm.

"Oh, sorry, my students are a bit rude. You wouldn't have seen what happened here?" Jirayia asked him.

"There, there was this snake, it destroyed the palace. But it disappeared almost immediately afterward." The civilian said, still trying to extract his arm form Jirayia's hand. Just then Jirayia released him, making him stumble back.

"Thanks, you can go now." He smiled at the man and turned back to Sakura and Sasuke.

"I guess you realize what that means, don't you?"

"Orochimaru." Both said together.

"Yes, he's probably after Tsunade. After all, she would be the only one capable of healing his hands."

Sasuke stared at the pile of rubble. "And he found her first."

"Yes, but that doesn't have to mean much. He can't force her to heal him, he has to make her want to heal him." Jirayia explained.

Sakura nodded, that made sense. "So, he probably didn't kidnap her or anything."

Jirayia snorted. "He couldn't just kidnap her, even if he wanted to. He's not that strong, don't forget, Tsunade is strong enough to be the next Hokage."

They walked on, through the city. Soon entering a bar.

Sakura didn't exactly mind those, though she felt the temptation to get drunk every time they entered one. Jirayia had nixed that idea pretty throughoutly. Telling her that he only allowed the last time because he considered it an exception. He wouldn't tolerate her drinking herself into a stupor.

He had charged Sasuke with making sure she didn't. And without Ino to help her out, she couldn't drive Sasuke to drink either. So she stayed sober.

For some reason she didn't mind all that much though.

"What are we going to do now?" She asked Jirayia as he order juice for her and Sasuke.

"Well, we are going to stay here until we either find Tsunade, or we have confirmation that she left the city again." He shrugged. "Not much else we can do. But if Orochimaru's been here, he probably told her to stay and answer some sort of off..."

"Tsunade-sama, you can't still be thinking about his offer. You know he has to..." A female voice pleaded with somebody.

"Shizune, stop." Another female voice answered wearily.

"Or, we can just sit here and have her wander in on us." Jirayia finished the sentence.

"Hello Tsunade, why don't you come and sit with us." He grinned at the woman. Sakura turned around, and came face to face with the biggest breast she had ever seen.

"Those can't be real." She screeched.

All conversation came to an immediate halt. Sasuke stared at them as well, silently nodding. Tsunade's response never passed her lips as she glared at Sakura. Jirayia chuckled to himself. "They are all real Sakura, believe me."

Sakura looked at him, then at Tsunade, who had switched her glare to Jirayia.

"You actually let him grope you? And he somehow still lives?" She stared incredulous at the older woman.

The glare switched again. "He's quite sneaky if he wants to be. And he's tougher than a damn cockroach." She snarled.

Sakura considered that for a second, then nodded. "Makes sense I suppose." Sasuke still stared at her tits, so Sakura knocked some sense into him. "Stop staring it's rude!" His head rebound of the seat and smacked into the table, he hadn't even seen the attack coming.

Sakura growled at the older woman and Sasuke. She had worked so hard to get some sort of reaction from him, and now an older woman stole her show! She frowned, what would happen if he saw Anko now? She shivered, what had she done? Sasuke's sex-drive had been awakened, now he would actually pay attention to the girls throwing themselves at him.

Tsunade chuckled and looked smugly at Sakura. "Well little girl, some day you migh catch his attention as well, but at the moment those molehills will never..."

"What was that for?" Sasuke interrupted Tsunade. "I was just trying to figure out how she managed to stay upright. It has to be some technique to increase the back strength. No wait, it's probably just the standard muscle enhancements applied constantly... that would actually be pretty good training."

Sakura stared at him and sighed. Of course he hadn't been interested in Tsunade's breasts, only in how she kept upright... and how did she keep those monsters from sagging? Just imagine what that secret could do for somebody with a sane size?

She stared very, very hard at them.

Tsunade, who had glared at Sasuke frowned as she noticed Sakura's stare. Jirayia had disappeared, but judging from the muffled laughter under the table he hadn't gotten far.

"I thought you were interested in the boy. But I might have been wrong." Tsunade raised an eyebrow at Sakura.

Sakura stared back. "How do you keep them from sagging? There must be a secret."

Tsunade blinked at the question and sighed. "You two are strange you know that?" She glanced down. "But to answer your question, it's a slight modification of the henge, keeping them up. It's kinda like a bra, just with chakra." She glanced at Sasuke. "And the boy is right, I just keep up the normal enhancements in the necessary muscles, to keep myself form getting back problems."

Sakura nodded, then blinked. "That modified henge is probably also useful during combat... you can keep them from moving!"

Tsunade stared at her for a few seconds, then nodded. "It's not exactly a secret, though I suppose genin aren't taught about it. Anyway, I don't use it that way. It's more useful to let them move, it gives you just a tiny little advantage against many males and some females."

Rubbing her chin Sakura nodded. "At the same time, you slow the movement to keep damage to a minimum." She glanced at her own chest.

Tsunade glanced at Sasuke, who looked thoughtfully at her chest again. "It's a bit unsettling having him look like that. I mean I'm used to men staring at them, but I've never seen a guy stare at them to puzzle out the way I keep them up and out of the way."

Sasuke blinked and looked at her face. "It seems useful." He shrugged.

Sakura frowned and looked at him closer. Her eyes widened, he smirked, just slightly, but he smirked. He hadn't just stared to puzzle out that little secret. "Pervert." She muttered.

He shrugged. Meanwhile Jirayia fought his way back onto the table. The other woman just stared at them all, clearly wondering what the hell just happened. Sakura blinked at the pig in her arms.

"What's that?" She pointed at it. "Emergency rations?"

Tsunade burst out laughing, even as the woman, Shizune Sakura guessed, glared at Sakura. "Touch Tonton and you are dead missy." She hissed.

"Hehe, I'm kidding, just kidding." Sakura quickly placated the other woman.

"You better." She huffed and glanced at the smirking Tsunade, a small smile coming over her own lips.

Tsunade sighed and sat down beside Sakura. Shizune sat down on Sakura's other side.

The amusement that had temporarily replaced the gloom Tsunade had worn as she entered, Sakura had caught a glimpse of it at least, slowly drained from her face again.

"So, why are you here? I doubt you came here just to get into an argument about my bust size." She sighed and ordered some sake.

Jirayia nodded. "You might have heard that the third died." He said.

Tsunade looked at him, her face mostly blank, she nodded, filled the cup of sake the waiter had brought her very fast and held it to her mouth. "Orochimaru told me."

Sasuke frowned, Jirayia leaned back. "I guessed. Hiruzens advisers want you to come back and take his place."

Sakura watched Tsunade's face, as she slowly sat the cup of sake down again. She held no expression whatsoever.

"Why do we want her as the Hokage anyway?" She asked, carefully watching the woman's face.

Jirayia raised an eyebrow. "If you cared why haven't you asked before?"

Shrugging Sakura looked at him. "Eh, couldn't make myself an image of her before. Now it's become somewhat relevant."

Slowly Jirayia nodded, though he did glance at Tsunade's blank face. "Well, she's pretty strong." Shizune nodded proudly. "More than pretty strong." She added.

"She's also the Granddaughter of the first Hokage. Makes for quite the moral boost for the village." Jirayia explained.

Tsunade shook her head. "I decline."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, Jirayia just sighed. Shizune seemed surprised for a second, but not terribly so. She seemed more resigned really.

Sakura snorted and reached for the sake bottle. "I'll drink to that!" She grinned, only to have Sasuke's hand shoot forward and grab her wrist.

"No you don't." He glared. "One lush on the table is enough."

Tsunade stared at the girl. "Not that I mind kid, but I'm pretty sure you were supposed to make me want to become Hokage, not applaud my decision to decline."

Jirayia frowned at Sakura for a while then chuckled. "I should have seen that coming." He muttered to himself.

"Eh, why would you want that job?" Sakura said. "It's shit, long hours. Little to no sunlight, lots and lots of paperwork." She glared at Sasuke and rubbed her wrist. With a resigned sigh she settle for her juice. "And the worst? The responsibilities! You have it good, just wandering around, pissing it all away." She grinned at the woman. "Free, no regrets."

Tsunade frowned down at Sakura. "Don't make fun of me kid, what do you know about responsibilities?" She leaned down, until her nose nearly touched Sakura's. "What do you know about loosing people you love."

Sakura glared right back. "I know what it feels like to loose a loved one, because I nearly send one of my teammates to his death. And if I can't bring you back, then I have killed him. I know what it's like to be responsible because I told him to go and distract the god damn one tail, just so I could wake up the god damn host, I put to sleep in the first place!" She growled at the woman.

Tsunade actually shrank back a bit, before she reappeared right in Sakura's face. "Oh? So because you feel guilty about sending your teammate out to be crushed by Shukaku you want me to become Hokage? Because you had to be saved by some jonin."

Sakura tried to slap the woman, but she grabbed her wrist before it even came close. Tsunade grinned arrogantly.

"I didn't need some jonin to save us. We took Gaara down on our own. He's currently under arrest in Konoha." She hissed, once again driving Tsunade back.

"You expect me to believe that you brats, managed to capture Shukaku?" Tsunade glared at the girl.

Jirayia chuckled. "She's not lying. Sure it took around nine genin, but they did actually capture him."

Tsunade stared at him, then at Sakura. "Really?" She let go of Sakura's wrist, why did everybody have to grip it so hard tonight? She rubbed it, trying to get some feeling back into it.

"Well, I suppose you aren't totally useless at least. Why don't they make you Hokage then?" Tsunade chuckled.

Sakura narrowed her eyes. "Didn't you listen? Only an idiot would become Hokage."

Rolling her eyes Tsunade chuckled. "Then why expect me to become..." She glared at Sakura who smirked back saucily.

"Very funny brat."

"Oh so very much yes." Tsunade's fist slammed on top of her head, sending Sakura face first into the table.

"I feel I should have warned you." Jirayia said. "But... you seemed to do so well."

Sasuke followed the conversation with a raised eyebrow, he seemed as amused as Jirayia, though Sakura could see anger in his eyes as well, as she pulled herself out of the table, anger he couldn't repress any longer.

"And what would you know about loosing a loved one?" He asked Tsunade coldly.

Tsunade rounded on him, only to shrink back as she saw his eyes. "What do you..." She swallowed. "Uchiha."

"Yes, I've had my entire family murdered in front of my eyes! All of them." He hissed. "Who have you lost that you can make these declarations?"

Tsunade sunk into her chair. "My brother... and... my lover..." She whispered.

Sasuke glared a bit longer then looked away. "You had others left." He muttered.

Tsunade didn't move, but somehow seemed to acknowledge it.

"Tsunade-sama." Shizune said, pushing Sakura away to get at her master. But Tsunade pushed her away.

"It's alright Shizune." She looked at Sasuke, her eyes so sad. "You know how it is then, the pain..."

Sasuke looked back, his own eyes filled with the same sadness. "Yes, but I'll get revenge." He whispered.

Tsunade laughed tonelessly. "It won't bring them back. And it won't make you feel better. Just empty."

Sasuke blinked. "What do you mean?"

"Those guys who killed my lover? We got them in the end. I saw their corpses... it... it hurt. Even if it had been me to kill them... it wouldn't have changed anything." Tsunade stared into her sake.

Sasuke looked into his juice.

Sakura, Jirayia and Shizune kept silent, just watching. Tonton whimpered silently from her place on the ground.

"I can't become Hokage." Tsunade finally said. "I'm just not suited to it."

Sakura shrugged. "So, just come back then heal Naruto and disappear again."

Tsunade glared at her. "You think that's easy?"

"Please." Sasuke muttered. "I... I don't want to loose him too."

Tsunade flinched and looked away from him. "It's not even that I don't want to brats. I can't, if I see blood... I... I..."

"What?" Sakura asked.

"She's afraid of blood, ever since that day." Jirayia answered for Tsunade.

Shizune nodded in affirmation.

"Oh... I see." Sakura muttered. She didn't not really, but she could guess what that meant.

Sasuke just looked at his hands.

"Maybe you could teach one of us?" Sakura asked, jokingly. "Sasuke would look lovely in your dress." Actually with his chest for all the world to see...

Tsunade actually snorted once. "I don't think you get just how long medical training lasts. And he doesn't have the control necessary anyway."

-o-

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the older woman. He might not have the control, but he damn well could get it. And he would bet a lot of money on his sharingan being useful for any medical examination.

He imagined himself in Tsunade's dress confronting Itachi for a second. A smirk stole itself on his face. It might be worth it, just for the look on Itachi's face.

"I will heal you to death brother!" Sasuke would shout, and Itachi would laugh himself to death.

Yeah right.

"I'm not interested in becoming a medic nin." He muttered. Even if he might have saved a few of his family members if he knew how to heal... probably not though.

"See?" Tsunade said.

"Damn it... there's no way you'll come with us?" Sakura asked.

"No, I'm done with that way of life. I'm tired, broken... just leave me alone. It's better that way." Tsunade whispered, staring into her sake.

Sasuke looked away, she got her vengeance, not in person maybe, but she got her vengeance. Why didn't it help her!

He couldn't, wouldn't end up like that. He would kill Itachi and then he would focus on rebuilding his clan.

For a second he imagined his hand trailing over the belly of his wife, their children running around laughing, some of the girls with pink hair, most with black though.

He snapped out of the day dream and stared in horror at Sakura. What the hell! He reduced his breathing to normal quickly, but everybody in the room had noticed. He fought the blush down and took a sip of his juice.

"Sasuke? Are you alright?" Sakura asked, the concern evident in her voice. Probably thought he remembered his fight with Itachi.

"I'm fine." He ground out, keeping his face carefully blank, he couldn't blush when he looked at her. That would be bad! Very bad!

She sighed but relented he had her trained very well by this point. "I suppose." She didn't pry too deeply into his private thoughts.

But then, she had already invaded them pretty damn well, so she didn't need to anymore.

Damn her, and damn Anko for giving him all those ideas. She would pay once he got back to Konoha. And if he had to turn himself into a certain orange clown to do it. She. Would. Pay!

Jirayia sighed. "I suppose we can't convince you then..." He looked at Sasuke and Sakura. "How about you two go get a room for tonight? I'm gonna talk to Tsunade a bit longer. Maybe have a drink together, speak of old times. Better times."

Tsunade regarded him for a few seconds, then she sighed and nodded. "Fine with me. Shizune? Show them to our hotel will you? And get some rest as well."

Sasuke looked at Sakura, who shrugged. Not really much they could do. Not as if they had been send with Jirayia to bring her back. Supposedly that was his job.

So they followed Shizune out.

-o-

They sat down in a cart by the road, both looking into their sake, neither speaking.

Jirayia hated it.

"You haven't changed much." He began.

"Neither have you." Tsunade replied. "You still have no shame, bringing them to guilt trip me..."

"I didn't. I didn't even realize that they could guilt trip you until just now." Jirayia replied. He honestly had forgotten about Sasuke having that in common with Tsunade.

"Still, is it working?" He asked.

"Why would I want to become Hokage, just because they have the same sob story as me? Just shows that nothing has changed and the job is still shit." She took a sip from her cup.

Sighing Jirayia drank from his. "Can't really argue with you there."

He glanced at her. "By the way, if you accept Orochimaru's offer..."

She whirled to watch him.

"I'll kill you." He glared at her with everything he's got. Watching her flinch back was far more satisfying than he had assumed.

But she bounced back almost immediately. "You think you can do it? You couldn't even capture him. Why would you be able to kill me?" She glared right back.

He chuckled and leaned back in his seat. "I have my ways. But seriously, are you considering his offer?"

Tsunade remained silent, which really gave him all the answer he needed.

"He's a liar Tsunade, whatever he promises you, he'll twist it somehow, in a way that will make you regret it." He told her, but she still remained silent.

Sighing he pushed himself up. "How long are you staying here?" He asked.

"At least a week." Came her reply almost immediately.

"Hmm, suppose we have that long to change your mind." He waved and wandered off. Leaving her there, with her thoughts and her sake.

He just wished he had an idea how to convince her.

-o-

"So, both of them wanted to become Hokage, and she gave both of them her necklace?" Sakura asked, tears in her face.

Sasuke looked unaffected by the story, but she thought his lips were a bit drooped.

"Yes, it's cursed." Shizune confirmed.

"Naruto isn't getting his hands on that necklace." Sakura decided. A quick look at Sasuke revealed that he agreed with her decision.

Shizune raised an eyebrow. "He wants to become Hokage as well?"

"Yes, he's a pretty big idiot, since he actually wants the job." Sakura nodded.

Shizune giggled. "Is ambition that bad in a man?"

Sakura glared at Sasuke and nodded. "Oh yes, it gets them killed."

Sasuke growled behind her, but she ignored it. "And it makes them act stupid. Ambition should be outlawed."

The growl intensified.

"I think if you continued that boy is going to rip you apart." Shizune commented neutrally.

Shrugging her shoulders Sakura grinned. "He'll try, that's all. Anyway how do you keep your hair like that? It's so pretty, Tsunade too."

A second later she heard the door slam shut, as Sasuke had beat a hasty retreat.

"Hmm that's one way to get him off your back I suppose." Shizune smiled at the girl. "Now, I hope you realize that it's not easy for Tsunade-sama. She's been through a lot and..."

Sakura nodded. "I get it. I still feel horrible about Naruto... and I still can't come up with any other way to beat Shukaku. Maybe if we had better training, but we were just fresh out of the academy..."

She shrugged and looked at her hands. "And I really wanted to have at least a year before I killed anybody."

Shizune hugged her. "You didn't kill him, he's still alive and you'll see, we'll make Tsunade heal him, somehow."

Sakura smiled at the older woman. She seemed nice, as long as you didn't threat Tonton. "I wasn't speaking about Naruto... during the chunin exam, we were attacked by that team from Sound... I, I killed them."

Shizune just hugged her harder.

"I enjoyed it too... but... I think mostly because they deserved it." Sakura continued. "They were such bastards."

She snuggled into the older woman. Why did she trust her so much?

"And when the invasion started I killed those other two guys. Didn't enjoy that, it just happened so fast..." She felt some tears run down her face.

"Shh, it's alright." Shizune whispered into her ear.

"I... it's just, I don't want to enjoy it, but if I hadn't done it, then somebody else would have. And somebody has to protect the village. People like Orochimaru are everywhere. And if we don't stop them... they will do whatever they want." Sakura hiccuped. "And that's not even taking the other villages into account. They just want to survive to become strong and prosper. But they are competing with us, so if we want to live well, we have to take business away from them..."

She felt herself be rocked back and forth. Damn good thing Sasuke had left, this would have been so embarrassing. But it felt good, to finally have somebody she could confide in.

Kakashi just sucked at this kinda thing. And Anko was just too... Anko to go to.

They remained like this for a while, until Sakura finally untangled herself. "Thanks, you have no idea just how much I needed that." Sakura smiled at the woman.

Shizune smiled back. "No problem, I enjoyed it... sometimes, traveling with Tsunade... you feel like you are babysitting constantly, but you only get the bad parts of babysitting. And children of your own? Forget it."

Sakura giggled, somehow she couldn't imagine Shizune with children of her own. Taking care of Tsunade seemed to be a full time occupation.

"Well, glad I could help you feel like a mother then. You know the good kind of mother." She smirked at the older woman.

"Don't get smart with me missy, I can spank you easily enough." Shizune mock growled.

"Is that a come on? That would explain why you put up with Tsunade so much." Sakura shot back.

Shizune's eyes widened in horror. "What?" She screeched. "Me and Tsunade... oh my..."

"Ahh sorry! Sorry, that was Anko's bad influence, it's slipping out more and more lately." Sakura apologized quickly.

Shizune raised an eyebrow. "Why do you hang around Anko? I mean she's a pretty good kunoichi, but she is such a bad influence."

Sakura shrugged. "She's kinda my teacher."

Shizune stiffened up. "Oh god, she's found somebody to infect... there's a mini Anko running around!"

"Hey! I'm not a mini Anko! I refuse to bow to her, as soon as we go back to Konoha I'll put her into her place." Sakura replied. How dare Shizune call her a mini Anko!

Shizune stared back flatly. "Of course you will."

"I soo will..." Sakura muttered. Even if she had no idea how, she would somehow make Anko pay.

"How about we focus on more attainable goals?" Shizune smirked. "Like getting Tsunade to come back and become Hokage?"

Sakura nodded, that sounded like the more important problem. "Any ideas? Cause I have none. Not that I need to have ideas cause that's supposed to be Jirayia's job."

Shizune rolled her eyes. "And you trust him to actually pull it off?"

Sakura shrugged. "Actually? Yes I do. He's no that bad."

Shizune looked down at Sakura. "Do you know what he does in his free time?"

"You mean beside peeping?" Sakura asked, eyebrow raised.

"Yes, beside peeping. Though I think that's bad enough." Shizune growled.

"Uhh... no?"

"He writes an absolutely horrible book, a porn book!" Shizune nearly shouted.

Sakura coughed and forced herself to not look at her backpack, where a signed copy had been hidden at the bottom.

"You don't say." She replied, smiling sickly.

"Yes, and he uses those damn peeping excursions of his as source material!" Shizune raged.

Sakura coughed. "Have you read it?" She asked.

Shizune recoiled. "Read it? Why would it read trash like that?"

"Well, if you knew what's in it you could really put him into his place." Sakura replied. She couldn't have good literature slandered like that without at least some attempt to save it.

Shizune narrowed her eyes, still she seemed to consider it. "Maybe. I'll think about it. But you better don't go and read those books. They aren't for children."

Sakura nodded quickly. "I promise I won't pick up any of his books." She owned them already after all.

"Good." Shizune nodded and sighed. "As for ideas... I don't have any either. Tsunade... she's been hurt so much. I'm sure you can understand that."

Sakura nodded softly. If Naruto had died... better not think about it.

"And then there's her fear of blood." Shizune sighed. "That complicates things even more. She breaks down at the sight of blood, that makes it very difficult for her to operate as a medic as you can imagine."

Again Sakura nodded, operating somebody would be impossible if you couldn't see blood.

Shizune looked down at her, a sly smirk on her lips. "There is however something you might be able to use to make her agree to go to Konoha."

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "What's that?"

"Gambling. She loves to gamble. If you can get her to gamble with you, you might just win her agreement." Shizune explained.

"But wouldn't she see it coming a mile away?" Sakura asked dubious. She would see it coming.

"As I said, you would somehow have to get her to agree." Shizune sighed. "That won't be easy, she only bets money, easy to replace."

"Easy to replace? Money? Sorry but I doubt it."

"Well if you can cure most sicknesses that would most likely end up killing the patient you can expect a certain amount of gratitude." Shizune pointed out.

Sighing Sakura looked down. "I'm in the wrong business, I should have become a doctor."

"But then you wouldn't have learned to use chakra and you wouldn't have made the amount Tsunade makes either. You do need to be exceptionally good to make anything after all." Shizune smiled at Sakura.

"Heh, true enough. So, operation get Tsunade to gamble with me is effective as soon as I've gotten a good night of sleep." Sakura yawned. "But first, I need to do my hair."

"Hmm? It looks fine to me. A bit dusty, but nothing really bad."

"Yours looks so much better though." Sakura whined.

Grinning Shizune rubbed the back of her head. "Well, we do know how to make special shampoos. They help strengthen the hair, make it easier to take care off, the works."

"I just now figured out how to do it with chakra, it's good training." Sakura grinned proudly. It had helped a lot, she had even managed to reduce her time to under twenty five minutes now.

Shizune blinked. "Huh? Chakra?"

"Yes, you simply..."

-o-

Sasuke slowly returned to the world of the living. He spend a few seconds enjoying the warmth of the bed, then he shuffled out of it and prepared to face the day.

A quick wash took care of his most immediate needs, the chakra training exercise Sakura had taught him in exchange for some topless time, did wonders for his hair and concentration, not to mention chakra control. And breakfast took care of his last need.

He spend the next half hour training, his usual clothes on, no need to give anybody a show for free. Who knew when Sakura needed bribing. And if he went around too liberal with his looks she would charge more. He wouldn't mind that much, but better not risk anything... nasty. Who knew what she could come up with.

His training finished he went back to take another bath. Then went down again for another breakfast. He needed the energy for the next stage of training. No matter the breakfast, in the evenings he always felt more hungry than ever before.

He shuddered to think what he would feel like without a good breakfast?

"Morning Sasuke." Sakura mumbled sleepily as she walked past him, already washed and dressed, but far more tired than him.

"Good morning Sakura. Shizune kept you up all night?" He felt glad that she hadn't noticed his inflection. Anko would pay, somehow, someway.

She stopped before the room the three females shared. "By the way, I got a plan for Tsunade, met me downstairs." She added and stumbled into it. She really, really wasn't a morning person.

Luckily Sasuke was, which meant he had the mornings mostly for himself.

Which he always enjoyed, since nobody around bothered him. A nice little diversion as it were.

Quickly he found himself in the common room, Sakura devouring her breakfast. Jirayia also had come down. Sasuke hadn't even noticed that he returned.

"Good Morning." Sasuke greeted him, but Jirayia didn't seem too happy to see him. Probably hungover.

"Morning brat. Anything interesting happen?" He asked him.

"Sakura had a plan for Tsunade I think, but don't ask me what that involves. She didn't tell me anything. I doubt she's even up yet." He explained.

"Ah, well she spend most of the night with Shizune, so the two of them might have come up with something." Jirayia shrugged and took a sip from his tea.

"Hnn." Sasuke nodded and ordered some more food. He needed the energy if he wanted to survive the training regime he had planned.

A few minutes later Sakura made her way downstairs, Shizune in tow. The two women grinned at each other, quite clearly cooking something up. Something he might not want any part of. He never liked it when females planned anything in regards to him. One female? That didn't worry him, Sakura could come up with some interesting plans.

Two females? That spelled trouble on a grand scale if it involved him.

"Morning you two." Sakura chirped cheerfully. Sasuke immediately narrowed his eyes, but Sakura simply helped herself to some food and started eating.

Shizune on the other hand stalked straight towards Jirayia and held a hand out. "Hand me a copy." She growled.

Jirayia raise an eyebrow. "I'm not giving one to you to burn." He replied evenly.

"I'm wanting one to read."

His eyebrow rose even higher. "Why?" He asked.

"Sakura pointed out that I need to know my enemy." She smirked at him. "I'll show people just why this book belongs burned."

Jirayia glanced at Sakura. "Did she now?" Still, he pulled a book out and handed it to Shizune. "Don't let Tsunade catch you." He winked at her.

She glared back for a second, but buried herself in the book a second later.

Jirayia sidled up to Sakura and handed her a slip of paper. Sakura looked at it and raised an eyebrow. With a shrug Jirayia sidled back again.

Sasuke decided to ignore the interplay. It had nothing to do with him, and if they wanted to play around? He had no problem with letting them play around. He might not have the time to do it, because he had training to do, but he could recognize the benefits of relaxation. Occasionally he even managed to indulge.

Carrying her plate over to him Sakura sat down. "So, here's the plan." She said between bites. Eliciting a sigh from Sasuke, here it came, the plan. He should have made a run for it when he still had the chance.

"We piss of Tsunade, make her so angry she can't think straight." Sakura said, not noticing Sasuke's grimace. Really this was one of the oldest ones in the book... in both cases really.

"Then, when she's nice and angry, we challenge her to a bet! If she looses she has to come back to Konoha with us." Sakura stabbed her chopsticks at him.

"Just one flaw in your brilliant plan." He pointed out.

"What the old hag is standing behind me?" Sakura... implemented her plan beautifully.

Her head however also met her breakfast perfectly as Tsunade's fist impacted the back of it.

"Nice try little girl, but you have to be smarter to trick me." Tsunade snorted.

Sakura grumbled as she pulled herself out of her meal, a brief spike of chakra later and the food had left her face. But damn, using chakra to clean yourself turned out to be extremely useful.

Tsunade nodded at her. "Not bad, not many figured that out, even now."

Sakura preened. "It's easy, really and I came up with it without any outside help."

"Didn't you use it to bluff against Temari, only implementing it afterward?" Sasuke pointed out.

He leaned his head slightly to the side, to avoid the kunai coming his way, he winced slightly as he noticed the wire coiling around his neck, but he did his best to ignore it.

"Sasuke." Sakura growled, when had she passed the distance anyway? "The plan wasn't make Sakura angry." She pulled at the ends of the wire, but Sasuke had managed to put his hand in there. Sure it hurt, but not too badly.

"Oh... must have missed that part of the plan." He smirked back at her.

She narrowed her eyes. "Don't you want her to heal Naruto?" She asked.

He sighed, and shook his head. "You saw her yesterday. She's done, her glory days are over."

In Sakura's forehead protector he could see Tsunade stiffen. "She can't even heal him." He rolled his eyes. "Don't pin your hopes on her. We probably would have better luck learning the stuff ourselves and healing him then."

Sakura glared at him for a good while. "Well, while I agree on all counts." Another twitch, but she had to know what they were doing. "That would take a while..."

"We can simply ask Shizune." He shrugged.

The woman in question looked up from her book. "Huh? What? Did somebody mention my name?"

"Nothing important." Sakura grinned at her. "You can go back to reading."

"Oh ok, you know? This is actually pretty good." Shizune commented, a slight blush spreading over her face. "Oh my..."

A huge grin spread over Jirayia's face.

Tsunade's glare settled on him. "What? Did you do?" She growled.

"Nothing, it was all her." He pointed at Sakura who grinned back at Tsunade insolently.

"Hey, I just wanted to spread the appreciation for fine art." Sakura said.

Tsunade took a deep breath and deflated. "Nice try, but it won't work. Shizune is a big girl, if she wants to read that, then I can't stop her."

Sasuke wanted to curse the woman as Sakura pulled the wire taunt and much harder than before, she actually managed to cut off his circulation.

"Need air!" He squeaked, but Sakura ignored him.

"Heh, I suppose you're afraid of fighting me. After all I'm not a washed up old hag. I don't need to hide my real age." She taunted the older woman. Thankfully she also let the wires slacken a bit, giving him the opportunity to gasp some air.

He hurried, since he could anticipate Tsunade's counter.

"Psh, you have nothing worth hiding little girl."

Yep, the pressure was back. He looked at Jirayia for help, but the man currently attempted to evacuate the building. Coward.

Her eyes twitching Sakura readied her next barrage. "At least I don't have udders like a damn cow."

Tsunade just took the blow. "Don't worry, some day some guy will find your breasts interesting. I'm sure they'll grow... some."

Damn the bitch! He needed that air!

"You..." Sakura growled.

"Just give it up little girl, you won't make me loose my cool." Tsunade laughed at Sakura.

Suddenly the pressure on his throat slackened. "Change of plans, I just realized something." Sakura said, her voice deceptively calm. "I don't need her to attack me." The wires disappeared from his throat. "I just need her to fight me!" She screamed and rushed the older woman.

Sasuke ignored the spectacle, he needed air, before he could help her... or kill her. He didn't know yet.

A second later Sakura flew past him and through the wall of the inn. Tsunade cracked her knuckles. "You really want to continue this little girl?" Tsunade sneered as she followed Sakura outside. Shizune had finally managed to tear herself away from her book and ran after her master. Jirayia had already made his way outside, which only left Sasuke in the building. Did he want to get involved in that?

He rubbed his throat. Not really, but he did want Tsunade to heal Naruto, that meant going along with Sakura's insane plan, since honestly, he didn't see a better chance.

Wearily he walked outside, the list of people that would pay for all the things he had to suffer through steadily grew. Anko, Kakashi, Sakura, Jirayia and Naruto. He would make them regret forcing him into these indignities.

He chuckled evilly. A shadowclone and a henge and he could do whatever he wanted, nobody would associate it with him. Oh yes, once he got back to Konoha...

-o-

Childishness rubbed his hands together. He hadn't seen sunlight since years ago. But a while ago, an earthquake had shifted the earth, keeping him buried. And a single ray of light had shone through.

A soon afterward another ray of light had appeared. And now? Now he finally had regained his freedom! Soon all would tremble before the might of Childishness, the valiant knight of fun and freedom all over the land!

Something heavy hit him and the world turned black again.

-o-

Libido winced as the Itachis slammed a shovel over the weird kids head and proceeded to bury him again. He would help, but he had about a hundred Itachis on his heels, which made helping a stranger somewhat difficult.

The fact that he could outrun them without any real trouble and even beat them back once they came in range didn't change that. He still had to pick his fights carefully.

-o-

Sasuke shook his head. As, fun as that would be he didn't have the time to daydream. If he even wanted the chance to do it, he needed to make sure Naruto woke up first. And that meant preventing Tsunade from flinging Sakura all over the city. He stepped out into the street and walked beside Sakura.

"So, you got any plan for this? Because facing off against one of the Sanin without a plan is really, really stupid."

Sakura looked at him, her expression quite startled. "Err... whoops?"

-o-

Once again thanks to ZusVayo


	18. Pushing yourself

Expectations of Development

-o-

Pushing yourself

-o-

Sasuke's expression said it all. He really didn't like how she got him into this situation without a plan.

"Eh, relax Sasuke. What's the worst that can happen? We loose." Sakura shrugged.

"And are beaten rather heavily." He replied grumbling.

"Well, yes. But I thought you would enjoy this opportunity for training." Some people really didn't seem to understand what they wanted.

Sasuke glanced at Tsunade who simply stood there, waiting. "Take all the time you want. Beating you while you have a plan makes it all the sweeter." She said, once she noticed his look.

He narrowed his eyes and looked at Sakura. "So, come up with anything? If not, I confuse her with genjutsu, you ensnare her with your wires, we beat her up?"

Sakura opened her mouth, but honestly, that seemed like their best bet. Simple, to the point and not much could go wrong. "Yeah, sure. Sounds good."

She turned to Tsunade. "Alright, what do you want if you win?" She asked the older woman.

"Nothing, we aren't gambling." Tsunade replied, quite the superior smirk on her lips. "Do you honestly think I'm stupid enough to just do as you want?" She glared at Sakura and Shizune. "And you, helping the little witch. I'm hurt Shizune."

Shizune didn't seem too concerned with Tsunade though. Instead she sighed and shook her head.

Sakura groaned. Ah well, that just meant they would have to impress her, before they could get her to gamble. People only gambled if they risked loosing something after all.

"Sasuke!" She hissed at him and his eyes changed into the familiar form of the sharingan.

She looked back at Tsunade, who stood there, her eyes closed. "Nice try brats, but I know about the sharingan. I'm not going to be ensnared that easily."

Sakura smirked, even if she said that, with her eyes closed she should be an easy target. She glanced at Jirayia, or maybe not. She flung five kunai all around Tsunade, who still refused to move. Though Sakura could see her eyes move beneath her eyelids.

A quick flick of her wrist send the wires around Tsunade, who had moved just then, easily evading them. Cursing, Sakura jumped back, she should have expected speed like that. Jirayia had been just as fast, rushing them before they could even react.

"I'll just need two fingers for this. One for each of you." Tsunade taunted them, even as she dodged another of Sakura's wires, momentarily slowing her down. If Sakura stopped moving now, she could... but she could see Sasuke move in from the side, ready to tackle her away from Sakura, so she readied herself she had to at least look as if she would take the hit.

Tsunade rolled her eyes and stopped right before Sakura, twisted slightly towards Sasuke. "Really, any decent ninja can detect another ninja just by their chakra." She muttered as her hands snaked forward, ready to poke them to hell and back.

Sakura tried to slap the approaching hand away, but Tsunade moved far too fast, for her to manage that. She felt a tap on her forehead and a second later... no a few seconds at least, she pushed herself up, groaning. She had been thrown onto the other end of the street. Just from the slightest flick of the hags finger!

Sasuke had apparently managed to evade the attack at least somewhat, the way he held his shoulder instead of his head. He also had managed to remain standing... or he had simply not fallen unconscious like her. A quick jump later and he stood beside her, tenderly rubbing his shoulder. She noticed that he looked at Tsunade with a bit more respect.

"She's... quite impressive." He muttered.

Sakura could only nod. That had seemed so much easier on paper.

"So, any better plans than attack her blindly?" He asked.

Sakura shook her head. "Not really."

"We need to win this though, if we want to have any chance of her coming with us." Sasuke growled.

A small whimper escaped Sakura as she noticed that shaking her head hurt, a lot. "Nah, we just need to impress her. If we wanted to win? We could do that easily." She groaned.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"She's afraid of blood. Should slow her down at the very least. But I somehow doubt that will make her want to follow us." Sakura explained.

"You two gonna be much longer or can I go back to my breakfast?" Tsunade asked.

Sighing Sasuke nodded. "I guess. So, same plan as before? We just need her to open her eyes."

Frowning Sakura looked at the older woman. "Yes, just how..."

"Good question."

"Fine, I'm going back in." Tsunade shrugged and turned around.

"No time, we need to keep her here, let's make something up as we go along." Sakura growled as she flung several kunai at Tsunade.

"Ah, so you did decide to fight after all." Tsunade chuckled. "I thought you had enough after those love taps."

"We won't be beaten by just your fingers!" Sakura shouted back. Sasuke circled away from her, making it much harder for Tsunade to take them both out.

"Oh? Certainly looked like that to me." Came the immediate reply.

Sakura growled, but didn't let it get to her, instead she flung more kunai. She wished she could do it with the same accuracy as Tenten, but for her purposes hitting the target would be enough. Tsunade lazily swayed around the kunai coming her way, not even bothering to move her feet. How could she sense all those kunai? As far as Sakura knew she shouldn't be able to do that.

"You know? I can hear you throw them." Tsunade smirked. "I can hear your breathing, hear the rustle of your clothes, hear the kunai whistling in the air."

Hmm a lesson in fighting blind? Well, that would be useful for later, but not for now. Sakura put Tsunade's words out of her... no wait! She flung an explosive Kunai at Tsunade, who dodged as expected. And then jumped towards Sakura, who had readied new kunai, just as the explosion tore through the street. Not a big one, she couldn't afford those kunai. And she certainly couldn't make them. She couldn't even make the small explosions yet.

But more importantly the explosion should drown out her throwing her kunai. Tsunade rushed ahead, and for the first time since the battle had started, she had her eyes open!

Now if only Sasuke could position himself right...

Sakura winced as she saw the finger descend on her again. That speed shouldn't even be possible! A flicker of color from her left made her attempt to look at it, but Tsunade's finger touched her before she could turn her head.

Again she pushed herself up, slower this time. But this might have been worth it, if Sasuke had managed to ensnare Tsunade.

Across the street Sasuke stood, as far away from Tsunade as possible, but he had that little smirk on his lips, the smirk that said that he had won.

She repressed a groan. She had no idea what Tsunade would make of it, and how strong Sasuke's genjutsu actually had been.

Hopefully enough to confuse Tsunade a little bit longer. She once again flung her wires out at Tsunade. Her last ones, she really had to get more... Tsunade didn't react to them, Sasuke once again proved just how good his sharingan were. Taking over Tsunade's senses so completely.

The wires wrapped around Tsunade, three around her arms, two around her legs. Sakura pulled them taunt, they had her! Sasuke already charged her, as fast as he could. Tsunade blinked, and raised an eyebrow, smirking at Sasuke. She flexed her muscles once and Sakura gasped, as her wires were nearly ripped apart. Only her own quick reaction prevented that. Tsunade glanced at her for a second, before she somehow... hopped, twisted in the air... and managed to plant her feet in Sasuke's face.

Sakura gaped at that display. Sasuke only stumbled back though, apparently Tsunade hadn't been able to bring her full strength to bear on him.

"Hmpf, serves me right I suppose. I shouldn't have underestimated the power of the sharingan." Tsunade muttered. She flexed her muscles again, but this time she followed it up by ripping her arms outward finally breaking the wires. A quick tug on the ones on her legs and Tsunade stood free again.

She didn't close her eyes however. "Well, you managed to make me use more than my fingers... congratulations." She smirked. "Of course, that means I can use everything else now."

Why did that fill Sakura with unnamed dread? Sasuke drew back as well.

And suddenly Tsunade stood before Sakura, even faster than the last time. "Once again her finger wandered to Sakura's forehead.

This time though, it simply tapped it, no pain, just darkness.

-o-

Jirayia chuckled as he watched Tsunade send the two genin to sleep. Sakura hadn't had the slightest chance to resist, she didn't even manage to flinch back.

Sasuke, thanks to the sharingan managed that, but Tsunade had him fall to a sleeping heap on the ground a second later.

"You are still pretty fast." Jirayia congratulated her.

"Eh, they are just that slow." Tsunade grumbled.

"And yet they managed to make you use your feet." He pointed out.

Sighing Tsunade shook her head, grabbed both of them and carried them to Jirayia. "I underestimated them. If I had known they worked that well together..."

"Hmm they are pretty good as a team yes. Much better than normal." He agreed.

Shizune accepted the both of them and quickly went to heal the bruises they had suffered.

"If you think this makes me want to go back to Konoha though." Tsunade glared at him.

He shook his head. "Nah, didn't expect you to be swayed that easily. Though I like their plan to make you gamble for your return. How about it? You against me? I promise to stop writing Icha Icha if you beat me." Easy enough to bet that, she would loose after all. He could see Shizune's eyes widen in horror as he made the offer. Hohoho, another convert.

"Tempting as that may be. I'll have to decline, I only gamble with money, not lives." Tsunade answered, strangely calm.

Jirayia sighed and nodded. "Well, lets go and get a drink then. Shizune? Could you look after them?" He tossed her a scroll. "And once they are awake tell them to train a bit? I've written down a few instructions on the scroll."

Shizune smiled and nodded. "I will, don't worry Jirayia." My, it felt good to get some respect.

Tsunade looked at him. "You coming?"

-o-

Sasuke woke up, feeling much better than he had felt for a long time. He hadn't even registered all the little spots of pain anymore. They had just been normal for him. Maybe Jirayia had been right about too much training... he briefly wondered what that said about Lee. Another reason to get Tsunade into the village. With her there people like Lee... and Sasuke himself, would be able to train much harder, without ruining their bodies.

"Ah, you're awake." Tsunade's apprentice smiled down at him. Hmm, pretty. He felt his lips twitch into a small smile. "How do you feel?"

"Good... much better than yesterday." He replied, pushing himself out of bed. Sakura still slept on the other bed. "What about Sakura?"

"She's a bit weaker than you, she'll wake up soon though." Shizune told him. "Here's a scroll, Jirayia said you should just follow the instructions on the it."

He looked over the scroll, just the usual stuff and an explanation for more sealing.

Sasuke nodded, he would wait for Sakura to wake up. Training alone... lately it seemed like a waste of time. With at least one more person it would be much more challenging. He preferred Naruto obviously. He could keep up much better than Sakura, when it came to pure strength and speed. But Sakura made him think, challenged him in entirely different ways than Naruto, so it wasn't all bad, it at least made him better prepared for a variety of opponents.

He thought back to his fight with Tsunade. "How did she do that thing with her fingers?" He asked Shizune. Sure, he had heard about her super strength. But to see it in action had been quite a bit different.

Shizune shrugged. "It's mostly chakra control. She expels her chakra at one point of contact, achieving a lot more power than keeping the chakra in her fists."

He nodded, she could probably do that all over her body. So when she escaped from Sakura's wires she just expelled the chakra into the wires, or something like that at least, he hadn't paid that much attention to how Tsunade did it. Still, the fight had been impressive, the way she had fought them blind.

"Where did she learn to fight blind?" He asked.

Shizune smirked. "She didn't. But a medic needs to have good senses. We need to be able to see all the little details of a patient, hear how the hear beats. If you are as good as Tsunade you can do that even over long distances."

Hmm, made sense he supposed. With a sigh he sat down again. "Still. We didn't manage to get her to come back to Konoha."

Rolling her eye Shizune sat down beside him. "Don't expect too much. You impressed Tsunade today. She said she would only use her fingers and you forced her to use her feet as well. That's quite something."

He looked at her flatly. "And then she kicked our asses like we were nothing." He grumbled. Quite impressive really. If he had that kind of power against Itachi... just move in, tap his forehead and make him pay for all the pain...

"You are genin! How long have you been out of the academy?" Shizune glared at him.

He shrugged. "A few months." He admitted.

Shizune's eyes widened. "And you managed to force Tsunade to..."

"I should be stronger." He grumbled, even as he couldn't stop himself from preening. Looking at it from that perspective did make him look pretty damn strong. But still, if he wanted to beat Itachi he would have improve much faster.

"No you shouldn't be! You should enjoy a few easy missions, complain that you aren't given more difficult missions." Shizune growled, her eyes sad. "You should be with your family, not..." She looked away.

Sasuke looked away too. He didn't need her sympathy and he certainly didn't need her pity.

"Which is why I need to be stronger." Sasuke whispered. If he had been stronger, he could have, he could have done something. Probably die with his family. Though, thinking back, probably not even that. How much stronger would he have needed to be, to force Itachi to kill him?

"Well, I suppose you'd think that." Shizune agreed. "But you've just started today. If you keep it up I'm sure she'll come around."

Watching her through half lidded eyes Sasuke snorted silently. "And what use is a Hokage that's afraid of blood?" He muttered nastily. He just didn't need to hear how he wasn't a failure. Shizune's hand slammed into his face, throwing him out of the bed. Damn, she could slap hard.

"Hmpf, show some respect to Tsunade brat." Shizune growled. Where did that come from? "Do you think just because you aren't afraid of blood you have come out unscathed in your families massacre?" She asked him, an evil glint in her eyes.

"Of course not." He replied evenly. He had his nightmares after all.

"Itachi." Shizune whispered in his ear. When had she moved... he could feel himself locking up and trembling. And he didn't know whether from fear or rage. Just the mention of his name. He forced himself to calm down.

"As I said, I know that!" He hissed back. "But I don't want to become Hokage either."

"And Tsunade doesn't want it too. She doesn't want to go back and heal your friend, you want her to do that. So don't talk badly about her." Shizune lectured him.

He nodded, some good points those.

"Ugh." Sakura groaned as she sat up. "Can't you people argue more quietly? Some of us are trying to sleep."

"Get up, we need to train." Sasuke commanded, he knew Sakura could sleep like a brick if she wanted to.

"Merg." Came Sakura's reply as she slowly made her way out of the bed. "Fine, fine. Suppose we have to if we want to face Tsunade more often."

Shizune nodded approvingly. "That's the spirit. Now go out and train."

Sasuke glared at the much too cheerful woman. Why couldn't she act normal?

"If you train hard, you'll be able to match Tsunade for sure." Shizune lied through her teeth. She didn't believe a word she said. Still, Sasuke grabbed a slowly waking up Sakura and dragged her to the training ground.

-o-

"Konoha does need you Tsunade." Jirayia pleaded. Though the cup of sake might make it look more like an easy discussion to casual observers.

"But I don't need Konoha." Tsunade replied almost angrily. "Hasn't Konoha taken enough yet?" No, not angrily, sadly.

He sighed and leaned back. He couldn't exactly argue with her on that. "That it has, but if you don't take the job, somebody else will. And at the moment only Danzo has the political power to do that." He looked at her hard. "Do you think Danzo will let you wander around like this?"

Tsunade glared at him, before she returned to staring into her cup. "Let him try." She muttered.

With a sigh Jirayia cut his finger and held it in front of her face. He wished Naruto were here, the brat would have grown on Tsunade so fast she wouldn't even have realized what happened to her.

"Look at this Tsunade." He growled, didn't she realize what would happen if Danzo took over? He could hear Tsunade hyperventilate, so he removed his finger. "Danzo knows about this as well. Do you honestly think his goons won't use it against you? Hell, if those kids didn't need you to come with them they would have used it against you. If you had bet anything you would have lost."

Her fist clenched around the cup, knuckles white. But she still had herself under control. "I know that." She turned to him, eyes burning with fury. "I know that! But I can't become Hokage. What's the point? I'll just screw up anyway. And what kind of Hokage is afraid of blood? I'd be a failure in combat and in the hospital." She shook her head. "No, I'd just be a failure as Hokage."

He sighed, he had to overcome the self pity as well as the dislike for the job. Great just great. The plan the kids had seemed more and more reasonable. Just get her drunk, make her bet and use blood to win the fight. Meh, she would screw it up on purpose then.

He looked into his own glass. Hopefully the kids could win her over. Or he had a brilliant idea, cause as it looked at the moment, he couldn't win her over.

-o-

Shikamaru whimpered as he dodged several kunai thrown his way. Usually this wouldn't be a problem. Usually he wouldn't have trained for over 5 hours before either. And certainly not at this level. Since the exams Ino had become an even worse taskmaster. And Choji, the traitor, had joined her.

Ino alone had been bad. Ino and Choji had been hell. They looked as bad as Shikamaru felt, only Asuma still looked fresh as daisies. No, not true, even he showed signs of tiring, he just hid them better.

Forcing his protesting muscles to move he jumped out of the way of another barrage of kunai. Ino had apparently borrowed them from Tenten. His shadow snuck up behind her and how come he still could even do that? He should have run out of chakra ages ago. Or had he? And had he just recovered enough for another try? The hours kinda blurred together.

Ino jumped to the side, a triumphant grin on her face. How had she... damn, he had stared at his shadow in surprise. The exhaustion made itself known, he couldn't even concentrate anymore. He fell to the side, barely avoiding one of Choji's oversized fists. When had he learned that? Shikamaru wondered, as he laid on the ground, desperately trying to suck in air.

A small thump announced that Choji had collapsed as well.

"I... have you... now..." Ino gasped as she staggered towards them. But she didn't look better than them either. Must have used the last of her stamina on that jump. "Or not." She gasped and fell flat on her face. "I think I'm gonna go and get some rest here." She rolled over and simply stared at the sky. Or she went to sleep, hard to tell. If she were awake she should be talking. On the other hand, she had been rather quiet after the exams.

"Ino?" He asked as a rather nice cloud drifted over them. "What happened in the exams, not to Konoha. To you... and Choji." Something had changed for them. Something rather fundamental.

He didn't get an answer, not right away, but he had heard Ino shift, and that had been enough to tell him she was awake.

"I... you know about Naruto right?" Ino asked, her voice strained with some emotion. Shikamaru looked at Choji, who looked back sadly.

"Yeah, he's been hurt rather badly." Shikamaru replied. If you counted potentially crippled for life as bad, he grimaced.

"If we had been stronger, or faster, or anything... maybe we could have done something." Ino said, her voice full of sadness.

Shikamaru nodded to himself. "He should have guessed it had something to do with that. And maybe they wanted Naruto to be stronger as well, since that would mean Naruto could have defended himself better. But since they couldn't push Naruto into improving himself, they pushed him. He smiled weakly. They pushed him, so he could defend himself.

He couldn't say he liked their reasoning, he hated it really. He wanted to be lazy, to just sit around and watch the clouds all day. But, they were his friends. Even Ino with her constant nagging. And they meant well, and damn it, he didn't want to end up like Naruto. So he rolled over, ignored his aching muscles and pushed himself up.

"Asuma? You got some more things to teach us don't you?" He asked their teacher, who raised an eyebrow at him.

"I have, yes, but Ino and Choji..." Asuma looked at them, but Shikamaru could tell they had gotten up as well.

"Hmm, seems they are ready for some more training as well." Asuma chuckled.

"Yeah, I won't fall back behind Sakura." Ino shouted.

"I'll be stronger, so I can protect you two." Choji said. It sounded pretty final.

"Very well, then this is what we do..." Asuma started to say. What had he gotten himself into? Shikamaru wondered.

-o-

Kurenai stared as Hinata shredded another Gaara shaped training post. Since Naruto had fallen into his coma, Hinata had become more and more angry. Though she managed to work a good deal of her frustration out on the training logs, Kurenai hoped they wouldn't release Gaara until Naruto had recovered, if Naruto recovered.

Hinata might do something stupid otherwise.

"Why? Why aren't they hurting him, like he hurt Naruto?" She asked nobody in particular.

Kurenai sighed as she watched Hinata slump down on the post. She walked over and sat down beside Hinata. The bandages on her hands would need to be replaced again.

"Do you really want that? Do you think Naruto would want that?" She asked her student, as she gently took her hands and removed the remains of the old bandages.

"I...no, I don't want to hurt Gaara. But, but Naruto, he's in so much pain." Hinata looked away.

"No, he isn't. In that coma he isn't even aware time is moving. You'll see, once Sakura and Sasuke have brought Tsunade back, Naruto will be as good as new and you two can get back to kissing each other." Kurenai smirked as Hinata grew redder than any tomato.

"I... I... we... I mean..." She stuttered helplessly. "I don't want him to wake up just for that!" She wailed guiltily.

"Of course not, but you also want him to wake up for that. Don't you?" Kurenai grinned encouragingly.

Her freshly bandaged fingers came together in her nervous gesture. "Maybe..."

"Good, then let's get some real training done now ok? I think you can shred training dummies well enough now. Isn't the gentle fist supposed to be gentle?"

If anything Hinata blushed even brighter. "I, uh..."

"Come on Shino and Kiba are waiting for you." Kurenai smiled. Or at least they were only warming up. "And just think how proud Naruto will be, once he sees how strong you've become."

Hinata's blush disappeared as her face changed into a mask of determination. "Yes, I'll become strong enough to protect him." She promised.

Kurenai snickered. "Just don't let him hear that. You know how boys are don't you?"

Hinata snickered as well. "Of course not." Apparently getting together with Naruto had given her some self confidence. Though bringing down Gaara and saving Naruto from going splat might have played a large part in that as well. She saved him twice actually, didn't she?

"Hey Hinata!" Kiba greeted them. "You ready to really train? We won't hold back this time. We need to get stronger after all."

Shino nodded. "We didn't contribute as much as I would have liked to."

Kurenai rolled her eyes. Kids! They had faced Gaara head on, even if Naruto had been the most visible. They had jumped right at a gigantic wall of sand rushing into them. And they acted as if they had done nothing. She bet Sasuke and Sakura had no such problems.

-o-

Temari groaned as she finished the last of the paper work for today. If only the damn stuff didn't have so many implications, if only it weren't so important! She could just skim over the reports and be done with it.

Kankuro came in with a cup of tea and some more papers. "Here you go." He smiled at her.

She wondered when he had become her personal assistant and what had spurred the change. But since she had been saddled with all the paperwork she could handle he had suddenly been there and helped her sort through it all. Him and his puppets of course.

"What's that?" She sighed as she took the cup and eagerly drank the hot tea.

"Just some request forms for free time. If you sign them you'll have all of tomorrow to yourself." He grinned. "Hell of a time sneaking them out of the administration building, but you need a break. When was the last time you actually slept?"

A week ago she had the last uninterrupted night of sleep. She woke up screaming the other nights, fearing the horrible mistakes she made when she accepted one request for patrols in one sector of the waste, only to have the village attacked from the section she hadn't send any patrols out.

Ridiculous of course, even with their limited manpower, they could still catch intruders easily enough. But dreams weren't logical sadly. She grabbed the papers and quickly signed them. She noticed that Kankuro had one for himself as well and Baki. She raised an eyebrow at him.

"Thought we could make it a sparring session let you work out some of that frustration. And if you want to become Kazekage you need to be stronger." He smiled at her.

She glared at him. "I don't want to become Kazekage, if you didn't notice."

He nodded. "I know, but I want you to become Kazekage." He looked at her, quite differently than he had for quite a while, harder and far more serious. "I've had a look at the other candidates." He admitted. "And they don't fill me with confidence. More than half of them are as bad as father. They are calling for retaliation on Leaf! As if we had the power to do that. They don't care about the village, they only care about themselves." He shook his head. "Most of the rest are worse. They don't even bother to hide it!"

He walked over to the window. "We lost a lot of good men under father, what little we had left, we lost in the invasion, covering our retreat."

"What about Baki? He's a good man." She pointed out, almost desperately.

"Yes, he is. But he's too good at his job. He needs to be out there commanding in the field." Kankuro pointed out. "We can't afford to have him bogged down by paperwork. And even if you become Kazekage, he'll have to deal with some of it." He glared out of the window.

"What about the rest of the applicants?" She asked, but she didn't feel much hope.

"Strong, very strong, the lot of them. But they don't have brains. Not that they are stupid, not exactly. But they just don't have the head, or the charisma for leadership. You can make up for that lack of charisma by being smart, you can make up for the lack of smarts with charisma. But if you lack both..." He shock his head.

"And I have both?" She asked an eyebrow raised.

He nodded. "Yeah, you aren't exceptional, but you have enough of both to do a good job. Hell, Gaara could do a better job than half of them. And the others just win out because they aren't likely to kill half their people at the drop of a hat."

Temari laughed at that mental image. Gaara as Kazekage, the village wouldn't have survived a month. "Now that's a funny..." She trailed off. "You're serious!" She gasped.

"Well, not entirely. But yeah, he couldn't do much worse than the rest of the lot." He sighed and sat down on a chair.

"You know? We could have used this you before the invasion. The you that can read these kinds of situations and do something about it." She pointed out.

"It's precisely because I could read the situation that I didn't do anything. I just couldn't see a way out. Father wouldn't have listened, the others were too afraid of him. And Gaara might have killed us all anyway. So excuse me if I panicked." He grumbled.

"You really think they'll make me Kazekage?" She asked quietly.

"The council agrees with me. That you would listen to them is just a bonus. They think you'll do a good job of it. But they aren't done testing you yet. That will take a while longer. We are so weak at the moment though, we need peace." He stood up again and paced through the room.

"What about you? Why don't they make you Kazekage?" She asked, he seemed to have a pretty good grasp of the situation.

"Panicking in Konoha remember?"

"Oh yeah, that would be bad for a Kage." She conceded.

She looked out of the window. "So, if we can get peace with Konoha, we would have time to recover. If we can get that peace and... if we can somehow build a relationship with them. Something more like allies, not that uneasy peace we had."

Kankuro shrugged. "Sounds nice and all, but I don't see much of a chance for that. We invaded them alongside sound! Don't get your hopes up, we are in a pretty shitty situation."

She looked at him and smirked. "Maybe not, they are that kinda idiots, that forgive easily. At least some of them are."

He raised an eyebrow. "If they constantly win their battles by being idiots, are they really idiots?"

Temari looked at him and nodded slowly. He had a point. "Maybe we could learn a bit from them."

-o-

Sakura whirled around, her kunai flying at Sasuke, who came at her with full speed, her wires whipped around him, but he managed to evade most of them, those he couldn't avoid he deflected with his kunai. It did slow him down though, giving her time to fling an explosive kunai at him, even as she threw herself back.

He reversed his momentum and avoided the explosion easily. A second later he came at her again, rushing in with that speed of his. Of course, her wires were still around and whipped into his path again. But again he managed to avoid them. Fighting somebody as fast as him turned out to be extremely frustrating every single time. She could only touch him by surprise at this point. And he managed to see every one of her traps.

"That's enough!" Shizune shouted at them. "If you just continue to train like that you'll never beat Tsunade." She shook her head.

"We've been training like that for a while now. It's not bad training." Sakura pointed out, panting.

Shizune rolled her eyes and grabbed her, her hands glowed for a second and Sakura felt much better. Sasuke appeared beside her and looked on interested. A few seconds later Shizune had grabbed him and healed him as well.

"True, but if you want to beat Tsunade, you need to train a bit harder." Shizune explained.

Sakura looked at her suspiciously. "Why are you helping us?" She asked.

Looking back at her Shizune sighed. "Because you remind me a bit of Tsunade and maybe you can get her out of her shell, if you impress her enough. Honestly no matter how hard you train, you won't be able to beat her."

Sasuke snorted. "We figured that much out already." He didn't seem to like the fact very much, but he was realistic enough to not expect miracles.

"Well then, you'll need to make sure you grow much stronger and force her to take you more and more seriously each day." Shizune smiled. "I'm willing to help with that. You go all out, I'll heal you right back up and you can go at it again. Just make sure you have some chakra left, I can't exactly give you a lot of that. Just heal the torn muscles and so on. That should accelerate the speed with which you can train yourselves."

Sasuke looked at her through narrowed eyes. "No really, why are you helping us like this?"

Shizune gulped as she looked left and right. "If you breath a single word of this to anybody you are dead." She glared at them. "Jirayia asked me to... and well, since I've read his books I've realized they are far better than I thought... though the porn is as bad as I thought."

Sakura coughed. "Still enjoyed it though."

She weathered the glared until it collapsed into a blush. "Maybe." She coughed. "Anyway I've felt a bit guilty about it all and when he asked me to help you out, well I couldn't say no. I mean I want Tsunade to go back as well."

A likely story, but Sakura didn't really care why Shizune helped them, so she didn't ask. Sasuke also seemed satisfied and gave up questioning Shizune.

"So, we go all out?" Sakura asked him eagerly. With no worries about the incurred damage hampering them they could train longer, harder and much more intense. Sasuke nodded, just as eagerly.

Shizune looked worried from one to the other. "You aren't going to make this easy for me are you?" She asked.

"Nope, we need Tsunade to come back." Sakura explained, as she and Sasuke circled each other. "Naruto needs her to come back."

And suddenly Sasuke rushed her, eyes blazing red.

She grit her teeth and fought against the effects of the sharingan. She had been put under so often she could almost feel the chakra worming it's way into her head. Her hands came together into the ridiculously familiar seal. "Kai!" She shouted, even as she jumped straight up. She didn't dare moving left or right, either Sasuke could be fake after all.

She forced her chakra against the illusion harder. It always took her one or two seconds longer to disrupt sharingan induced genjutsu. But then Sasuke stood before her and she could avoid his eyes. Luckily he hadn't learned ordinary genjutsu, Kakashi just didn't have the talent to teach those as well as he could. From what Sasuke told her even his sharingan genjutsu weren't much more advanced than the basics.

Sasuke's genius once again shone through when he improved and honed those basics to what he already could do.

Her wires whirled around her. This time she would catch him!

-o-

Naruto cursed as he walked through his mind scape. This sucked!

He had been here so long and he didn't even know for how long he had been here. Training only provided him with so much distraction, and he had soon realized that everything was simply too easy here. He picked up new techniques with ridiculous speed. He had an awesome fire technique down in seconds. A fire technique he had completely made up.

He sighed as he moved aimlessly through the sewers that made up his mind. He thought his chakra control improved when he trained it here. Somewhat, but he couldn't say how much.

In the distance he heard the fox chuckle in dark amusement. From time to time he would call for Naruto, promise him freedom, power and blah.

As if he would fall for that! No, Naruto would wait patiently for his teammates and friends to get him help. However long that took. He nodded to himself and sat down, arms crossed in front of his chest. "Hear that fox? I'm not gonna fall for your tricks!" He shouted at it.

Only cruel chuckles came as a reply.

God he was so bored.

-o-

Shizune rolled her eyes as she watched the two children drag themselves up the stairs. They had devoured the food she put in front of them, asked for more, devoured that and then tried for thirds.

Shizune had called it quits then and told them to wait for breakfast. Those two had gone beyond anything she had thought possible. They had attacked each other viciously, punched, kicked stabbed and assaulted each other with everything they got. After each clash she had to heal various cuts and bruises at the least, minor damage to the muscles as well. Those two didn't seem like teammates when they attacked each other, they looked like bitter enemies.

Unless you looked even deeper. Both of them needed to become stronger, both of them needed to make the other stronger. And both of them wanted to be hurt, Sasuke much more so than Sakura.

Some way to atone for the guilt, for failing. She could see Tsunade mirrored in them. They all had something to prove. And now Tsunade had that offer of Orochimaru hanging over her head. Of course she wouldn't accept his offer! Shizune looked at Tonton, happily eating her meal. No, Tsunade wouldn't accept Orochimaru's offer, no matter how tempting it must be for her.

Why did she sound like she wanted to convince herself?

"Shizune." The woman in question announced herself. She smelled like alcohol. Not much though, Shizune had smelled her in worse conditions. "You help those brats train." Tsunade stated.

"Just making sure they don't hurt each other too much." She replied. Making sure that they attempted much harder too. But no need to admit to it.

"Maybe if you didn't do that they would realize just how dangerous being a ninja is and quit." Tsunade grumbled as she sat down next to Shizune. "Don't you think so?"

Sadly Shizune shook her head. "I don't think so. I think they know exactly what they have gotten themselves into Tsunade." She looked at her teacher, the familiar sadness etched into her face. Would this be Sakura's future? Sasuke would look even worse, his future of loss and suffering had started so much earlier. "They've already lost loved ones." Or at least felt responsible for the coma of one teammate.

Tsunade snorted, but didn't refute the point.

"You should go back." Shizune whispered.

"Why? So I can loose even more people important to me?" Came the reply.

"So you can prevent people loosing loved one." Shizune corrected.

"I can't save them all. It's just impossible, instead I'll lose people and if there's a war I'll lose so many..." Tsunade stared into her cup, searching for something Shizune felt very sure she wouldn't find there.

"Remember what it felt like to have saved somebody from the brink of death?" She whispered.

"I've done it just last week." Tsunade hissed.

"Somebody who deserves it."

"Leave me alone."

Shizune nodded, she couldn't exactly force Tsunade to make a decision. Hopefully training those two could impress her enough, could maybe give her hope... though maybe it would only show her just how broken they were. Sighing she made her way to their room. Tomorrow would look better. Hopefully.

-o-

Sasuke grunted as he moved out of bed. He felt good, a testament to Shizune's skills really. He should be black and blue all over, hurting horribly and he should stay in bed for the next few days. Instead he could move around as if nothing had happened. His stomach rumbled loudly, very loudly as he realized that he redefined famished. Even Naruto couldn't have put words to this feeling.

"I'm awake! Get me food!" Sakura groaned from her end of the room. Slowly extracting herself from her bed. "I'm hurting!" She whimpered.

"Where?" He asked, more to get her to wake up, than as an actual question.

"My stomach, it hurts so badly."

"We need food, the healing probably needs lots of energy." He explained as he left the room. They could wash up later, first filling their stomachs, or at least his stomach.

He had just secured a table and ordered the food, large amounts of rice, meat and whatever else he could get. When Sakura stumbled into the room, she still wore her dress from yesterday, she hadn't bothered changing out of it. She had been too exhausted. He had been impressed that she even could stand, but she had improved over the last month or two. Considerably improved.

She slumped on the table, not willing to waste any energy on sitting straight, not until the food arrived at least. He tried to eat it dignified, just like his clan would have. A second after Sakura had started ripping into a piece of meat, with her bare hands he realized he wouldn't get much if he did that. Soon both glared at each other over a choice piece of meat. His glare quickly turned into a grin however, as he realized that they could start training here, while they had breakfast.

With the limited room Sakura seemed to have the advantage, but his sharingan truly dominated this field. After all, she would have to stop attacking the food in order to form the seal for Kai and that's when he would get the meat.

"Would you two stop stirring up this ruckus?" Jirayia shouted at them. "Some of us are trying to sleep off a hangover."

Both winced in sympathy, hangovers were bad. And Sasuke wouldn't suffer from another one ever again if he had any say in it. Though with Sakura involved that didn't mean much.

They ate their breakfast much slower, now that the worst hunger had been dealt with. They still ate as fast as possible and they immediately demanded seconds. The waiter grinned at them and muttered something about ninja being the best customers.

Jirayia stared at them through bleary eyes. "So, you still try to get Tsunade with that betting thing then?" He asked.

Sakura shrugged. "Yeah, I mean do you have a better idea? I sure don't."

Jirayia opened his mouth to respond, but before he could do so Tsunade opened her mouth. "You really think you can do it, don't you?" She glared at them from behind Jirayia.

Sasuke shook his head. "Beat you? In whatever time we have? No way in hell." Any wound they could inflict on her, she could heal quickly anyway. And he chakra reserves would be pretty big too, bigger than theirs at least. No way to beat her then.

She raised an eyebrow. "Then why?"

"Then why train at all?" Sakura finished the question for her. "Simple, you like to gamble, but you I just bet you like the challenge more than actually winning." The possibility that she kept on punishing herself Sakura wouldn't raise, it hit a bit too close to home and wouldn't really help either.

"Which means what?" Tsunade asked, more amused than anything though.

"Simple, you'll give us a challenge we could, maybe, win. If we were good enough." Sakura replied smugly.

Tsunade looked at her, a weird little smile on her lips. "You think so do you?" She sat down on the table, in front of Sakura. "Fine then, three minutes. I'll go all out. If you can keep me from beating you for three minutes, you win. I'll come back and heal your friend."

Sakura gulped, three minutes of going up against Tsunade? All out? She closed her eyes, as she imagined the pain she opened herself up to if she agreed.

"What's our part of the bet?" Sasuke asked wearily, buying Sakura a bit of time. Jirayia frowned at Tsunade, though he had the same little smile on his lips. This didn't bode well.

Tsunade looked at Sakura and grinned widely. "For one month you two will be my gophers and you will do anything I want."

"What?" Sakura slammed her hands on the table. "What makes you think we would ever agree to something like that? We need to return to the village as fast as possible with or without you!"

She could see Sasuke nod emphatically.

"You? Please, don't make me laugh. You two aren't needed. Jirayia? Oh, he might be needed back, though I doubt it. Hmm he might have to take the position though, if I don't take it." She smirked at him, but Jirayia simply smiled back lazily. He didn't seem bothered.

"No way will we agree to something like that." Sakura said easily.

Tsunade and Sasuke nodded at the same time. "That's what I expected brat. So..."

"You'll agree to become Hokage, nothing less will do." Sakura finished.

"Exactly." Sasuke added, his eyes widened. "Wait, what?"

Tsunade snorted. "A month of servitude against a lifetime? Get real brat. If you want to up the stakes to that then you'll be my slaves for the rest of your lives." She smirked nastily.

"Ten years, can't expect you to live even that long old hag." Sakura countered. The bitch got on her nerves.

Sasuke whimpered in the background. "What about me? Don't I have any say in this?"

Sakura glared at him, but he seemed to have developed a spine suddenly, when did that happen? Since the tower she had been able to just make him do what she wanted... her eyes widened as she realized what had happened. He hadn't know how to deal with her, he had to build up his responses to her. Now he had build them up and he could counter them.

She looked away. "Fine, but we need her to come back." She said angrily.

"As important as Naruto is, I don't have the time to spend as her errand boy, I need to grow stronger!" He growled.

"Who said anything about not growing stronger? You two would be my apprentices of course. So much more fun to torture them. Right Shizune?" Tsunade laughed roughly. Shizune merely hung her head in despair.

Sakura growled, Sasuke would never agree to this now. She glanced at her teammate and maybe, kinda, possible, but not really, boyfriend. Bah, who was she kidding, she did manage to break down some of his walls, but he still only let her do what he let her do, because he realized that resisting her just made things more troublesome.

Her eyes widened as she realized that he actually considered it. He glanced at Shizune, then at Tsunade. "Hmm... how long do we have time?" He asked.

Sakura stared in utter confusion at him, the hell?

Tsunade stared as well, the slap of meat she had just lifted to her mouth hanging out limply. "Whu? You would agree?" She asked dumbly. "With your medical jutsu I could train much harder than without." He shrugged. "Though ten years are a long time... we would be traveling though right?" He looked at Tsunade with narrowed eyes. "Through the various nations, meeting all kinds of nin... with all kinds of jutsu..." He smiled darkly at her.

Tsunade stared back and finally cursed under her breath. "You would actually get what you want out of this wouldn't you?" She asked annoyed.

Shaking his head Sasuke leaned back. "No, Naruto would still be in his coma and I probably wouldn't grow strong enough to fight Itachi. But it wouldn't be a total waste." He looked at Sakura and took a deep breath. "I'm... I'm willing to risk it at least."

Sakura glared at Tsunade. "There's no other way to make you come back for Naruto is there?" She asked.

Tsunade glared right back. "You can take the first offer. One month? How does that sound?"

Sakura considered it, then shook her head. "Nah, if we go with you we can learn what we need to heal Naruto ourselves. Can't do that in just one month." She looked at Jirayia. "You would help us train naturally?" She looked at him pleadingly.

He nodded, his expression quite seriously. "I will, what you are planing is very serious you know?"

She grinned and walked over to him. "You never agreed to anything now did you? I'll trust you to convince her to come back to Konoha, should we fail."

Oh yes, at the very least he would work hard now to make sure Tsunade would return, guilt was such a beautiful force... as long as she didn't suffer from it. Damn it Naruto, why did he have to go and do that to himself?

"How long do we have?" Sasuke asked again.

"The end of the week." Tsunade replied evenly.

Shizune's eyes widened in shock. "Tsunade-sama." She gasped.

Sakura looked at Sasuke, this would be incredible risky, three minutes against Tsunade going all out...

He took a deep breath and looked at Jirayia. "I'm willing to risk it, for Naruto... and for Konoha. The old pervert can't take the hat, better the old hag."

Sakura smirked and nodded, she just wished she felt as confident as Sasuke seemed to feel. "All right, then it's agreed. In one week, if we manage to keep standing against you in one week, you'll agree to become Hokage."

Tsunade looked down at her, her expression unreadable. "And if you loose, you'll become my apprentices for the next ten years." She held out her hand. "Oh, and no using blood against me." She smiled at Sakura.

Sakura gulped one last time, looking at the proffed hand. She hadn't even thought about using that. She needed Tsunade as willing as possible for the job. For Naruto and for Konoha. Jirayia looked at her and nodded, he would find a way, either to train them, or to make Tsunade go back to Konoha if they failed.

She grasped the proffered hand and shook it. "I accept the bet." She said, loud and clear. Tsunade flinched and woodenly turned to Sasuke. He stared at the hand offered to him and slowly grabbed it as well. "I accept the bet." He ground out through clenched teeth.

Tsunade stared at their hands. "I... I accept the bet. And I can't believe you two actually are willing to go through with this."

Neither could Sakura honestly, she had no idea why she would do that. It was something Naruto would do... she looked at Sasuke. "Do you think Naruto is haunting us? Making us do stupid things?"

Sasuke seemed to flinch back. "I don't believe in ghosts... and Naruto isn't dead anyway." He whispered.

"Be that as it may. We don't have much time, and you have a lot to learn." Jirayia said suddenly. "You finished eating?"

They nodded and he hauled them off the table. "Then we're off to train. And if you thought Anko's training was bad, then you haven't even started to realize what bad really means. I'll send you through a week of hell." He looked down at them. Sakura felt herself tremble in a weird mixture of fear and excitement. She glanced at Sasuke, he smiled in pure excitement. Of course, that's exactly what he wanted.

"Shizune... you can accompany them... I... I have some thinking to do." Tsunade told her current apprentice.

"But... Tsunade-sama." Shizune muttered.

"I just need some time to think, that's all... and if those two want to have any chance at all... they'll need all the help they can get." Tsunade grinned at them. "And we wouldn't want this to be a boring fight right?"

She quickly turned around and left them alone.

Shizune looked after her for a few seconds, then looked at her pet pig. "Tonton? Follow her and make sure she stays out of trouble."

The pig lifted one leg to it's head in a salute and followed after Tsunade.

"As for you two. You heard Jirayia, this week will be the hardest you've ever lived through." Shizune glared at them, especially Sakura. "But I'll make sure Tsunade will return to Konoha, because I don't think I could survive you two being her apprentices."

Sakura nodded quickly, she didn't think she could survive being Tsunade's apprentice. She figured she would either have killed Tsunade or herself halfway into the first month.

-o-

Sasuke dragged himself back to the hotel room. Sakura had been carried off by Jirayia about an hour before. No matter how hard she pushed herself, no matter how fast she improved herself, she just couldn't catch up to him that fast.

The last four days had been the purest form of heaven for Sasuke and the purest form of hell for Sakura, going by the way she moaned and bitched constantly. Then again, she threw herself into the training with as much fervor as he did. Probably liked to complain. Shizune walked behind him, she looked tired as well. Jirayia's training regime called for them to not only go all out, but to seriously hurt each other as well. Within limits of course, they had to push themselves ever harder, become more and more sneaky. He rubbed his arm where one of Sakura's wires had caught him and cut deep into the flesh.

He had been so sure she hadn't even touched the wire, and yet it sprung up and snapped around his arm. Sure, he had managed to slam into her regardless and he had managed to knock her out. But if Shizune hadn't been there the wound would probably have killed him. Even now a few hours later he felt light headed. Though maybe he shouldn't attribute that to the wound, since it probably had been the hours more of training after Shizune healed them, that really did him in.

"How can you keep going like that?" Shizune shook her head. "You two should be dead by now."

He grinned sickly at her and tried to open his mouth. But really, that took far too much effort, for too little gain. Instead he opted to just fall on the ground and rest, yeah, that sounded good. Just rest and continue tomorrow.

"Wake up. I'm not carrying you." Shizune grumbled.

Pity, he would have enjoyed that. Hmm, something wrong with that thought, but not nearly enough for him to care. He forced himself up and drudged on. Mindful of her eyes on his back. He just wanted to sleep.

"You need to drink and eat a lot before you go to bed. What we had with us just wasn't enough." Shizune observed.

"Hnn." He groaned, he wanted to say something else, or did he? Couldn't think clearly, but he didn't feel hungry.

Shizune's hands grabbed his shoulders and turned him into a door. The smell of food hit him like a sledgehammer, or one of Naruto's fists and his stomach roared. A last spurt of energy carried him to a table, Jirayia and Tsunade already sat there, no hint of Sakura though, probably already in bed.

He shoveled the food into his mouth, not really tasting any of it. It reminded him of wave, were he and Naruto also stuffed themselves like this. Hmm, where did the water come from? He shrugged, he didn't care he needed food, for Naruto, so they could make sure he would get back up.

He wouldn't die and he wouldn't be a cripple. Sasuke would beat him one day, even with the Kyuubi. Yeah, if he could beat Naruto, he could beat Itachi.

He stared at the empty table, when had they taken away all the food? Oh well, since the food had so inconsiderately disappeared he could go to sleep now.

And with a slight thud he fell onto the table and started snoring.

-o-

Shizune sighed as she grabbed the Uchiha and slung him over her shoulder. "I'll bring him to your room." She told Jirayia and made her way up.

Jirayia smiled after her and looked at the table. "My, how similar their table manners are." He observed.

Tsunade still stared the remains on the table. "He just... inhaled it all. Did he even chew?" She said in horrified fascination. "The same with the girl. What are you doing to them?"

He smiled at her. "Training them. With Shizune there I can stop coddling them and really get to work. And they throw themselves into the training." He watched her, his confidence that the two might, just might be able to stand up to her rising by the day. Today the two had managed to hold him off for a good thirty seconds. Not all full strength obviously, but even Tsunade wouldn't go all out like that... would she?

"They won't even last thirty seconds against me. You only have one more day to train them you know?" She looked at him sadly.

"Wanna bet about that?" He chuckled. Thirty seconds they could do, even if Tsunade went all out.

"I've made my bet with them already. I'm not gonna enter one with you as well." She toasted him with her cup.

He laughed and toasted back. She wouldn't go for it that easily he supposed.

"So tell me, what did you do to them." She looked interested now.

"Eh, the usual. Made them try to catch each other and me, made sure they are faster and stronger. Really, not much I can do for finesse or awesome techniques in just a few days." He yawned.

"I suppose, so they have nothing new when they'll come for me then?" She smirked at him, hmm both Tsunades smirked at him... hehe double the tits as well, he wanted to grope them... but that would be very, very... pain... full...

-o-

Tsunade looked down at the sleeping form of her teammate. Orochimaru... tomorrow he would expect an answer and she would give him that answer, no doubt about that. But she wouldn't, couldn't involve Jirayia in this. One way or the other.

-o-

Thanks again to Zus for making sure this isn't nearly as bad as it could be.


	19. Closure

Expectations of Development

-o-

Closure

-o-

Tsunade looked down at the sleeping boy. Sasuke reminded her of herself. He knew quite well what it meant to lose a loved one, or your entire family. Though maybe he didn't understand quite as well as she did. He had been a child back then. On the other hand, maybe he understood far better than her, having lost his entire family at once. She sighed as she gently caressed his head. He twisted and turned, frowning slightly in his sleep. He didn't wake up though, too exhausted.

Shaking her head she stood up. Sakura rested uneasily in her own bed. Nightmares if Tsunade guessed right. She barely remembered her own first kill, but it had taken a while to get over it.

She had never gotten over loosing... loosing...

Closing her eyes she took several deep breaths. To have lost somebody under her command, while that young. If this Naruto didn't wake up, it might break the girl and turn her off the ninja life permanently. Which might not be so bad really.

Sighing one last time Tsunade walked out of the room, she had gotten all the rest she needed. Shizune and Tonton were still asleep, so now would be the best time to meet with Orochimaru.

-o-

Kabuto grinned as he watched Tsunade leave the hotel. With Jirayia here the rest of team seven couldn't be far away. Though of course without Naruto, who would be back home, sleeping in a coma.

This then gave him an opportunity, finally, to come face to face with Haruno. He wondered how she fought, well not really. He had seen how she fought. Not bad, but certainly still a genin. If she had been up against somebody more experienced than herself and a whole lot less arrogant... she certainly would have lost.

Another thing Kabuto looked forward to would be Sasuke's reaction to Orochimaru. With the cursed seal dormant for so long, with his successes along the way. Oh, this should be fun. He briefly wondered how Orochimaru would react to being rejected. Suppressing his laughter he wandered off, he had to warn Orochimaru that Jirayia had made his way here. No matter how drugged Jirayia had been, against a crippled Orochimaru even a weakened Jirayia would be a credible threat.

-o-

Libido watched over Family. Teamwork had gone outside again, searching for food and other stuff, she hadn't exactly been clear what she searched for.

Lately he hadn't been allowed to go outside as much as he would have liked. The damn Itachis had been restless after their loss, even if they had become somewhat sloppy and come far too close to the cave for comfort. So Teamwork had assigned him to watch over family.

She could have done it herself, in his opinion at least. She had that neat thing where she split into several persons after all. Why not use that?

He hadn't asked for that of course, she could easily kick his ass all over the place after all, but still. She could have offered!

Family groaned suddenly and all his attention focused on her. Her eyes fluttered open for the briefest of seconds, then she fell back and returned to sleep. He blinked what had that meant? Did it mean anything or had it just been something hurting family?

He looked at her face, a soft smile had settled on her lips. So no, this had been something good, family awakening for a second? Seemed likely.

He would have to tell Teamwork about this as soon as she came back.

-o-

Yawning, Sakura woke up. Another night of restless sleep, another night of stupid nightmares. At least she didn't wake up this time. Grumbling she crawled out of bed. She still didn't get enough rest. And here she had hoped that thanks to working herself to the brink of collapse she would have dreamless sleep. No such luck, this time at least. It had worked for the rest of the week after all.

Still yawning she padded over to Sasuke and shook him awake. He grumbled and rolled over. Sakura blinked, since when did she have to wake up Sasuke?

"Wake up Sasuke, or I might just have some fun at your expense." She smirked. Oh, if he didn't wake up, this could be fun.

A red eye stared back at her. "I'm awake." He muttered and pushed himself out of the bed. "Don't get your hopes up."

She sighed and turned away. They needed to get ready. After all, today they would have to somehow keep standing for three minutes against Tsunade. She looked at Sasuke, she honestly didn't think they could do it. She should just have taken the one month of servitude. Ten years... Naruto couldn't wait ten years. It had been stupid and irresponsible of her, if only Jirayia had said something, if only Sasuke wouldn't have agreed...

"Don't worry so much. Even if we loose, we'll be in a prime position to make Tsunade go back for Naruto. I bet she can only take so much of you begging her to heal him." Sasuke calmly pointed out.

She blinked. She hadn't thought about it like that. Still. "What about you? Ten years training to heal people, not kill them."

He snorted. "I'll be learning a lot of stuff, not just healing. Tsunade seems to wander a lot, as I've mentioned. That means she'll come across many ninja, which should mean that I can learn many new techniques. And with her medical jutsu I should be able to train harder and faster than ever." He shrugged. "I should be able to live with it."

Sakura sighed. It made sense she supposed.

"Besides, Tsunade is pretty strong, strong enough to kick us around effortlessly. I think we can expect her to teach me something useful at least. Even if it won't be enough to beat Itachi." He added.

"You better believe it." Shizune smiled at them, though Sakura thought she looked a little bit nervous. "Have you seen Tsunade? When I woke up she wasn't there."

Huh? "Is she running away from our fight? I honestly don't think that's necessary." Sakura wondered.

"Totally wrong attitude." Sasuke noted. "We'll managed three minutes... somehow."

Shizune nodded at him, though Sakura could see that she didn't really believe that herself. "That's the right attitude Sasuke, positive thinking!" She cheered him on. "Oh well, she's probably... hmm maybe gambling? To get rid of her bad luck?"

"Or she's off to see Orochimaru." Jirayia groaned. He had somehow appeared in the window, leaning against the frame weakly.

"What happened?" Sakura asked, quickly helping him through the window.

"She poisoned me. That's what happened." Jirayia muttered angrily. "Though I suppose I should be glad it's just to weaken me not to actually hurt me.

"Oh yes, you don't want to know what she could do with some of the poisons I know of." Sakura agreed. She shuddered to think what would happen if Tsunade had wanted to kill him. She only knew it wouldn't have been pretty. "Any idea what she used on you?"

Jirayia shook his head. "No, didn't smell, didn't change the color of the sake. She's still got it."

He looked at Shizune. "Anything you can do?"

But Shizune shook her head. "I would need time to analyze what she gave you. And if Tsunade is meeting with Orochimaru we don't have that time... if she's planning to decline or if she's agreed to heal him." Shizune didn't look at all happy with the last possibility.

Sasuke shook his head. "I don't think she'll agree to work for the bastard. She's way too smart for that."

Shizune looked at him in surprise. "Thank you Sasuke." She smiled at him, he simply shrugged it off. "We still need to find her though. Do you know where they were supposed to meet?"

"Yes, follow me." Shizune shot off, Tonton clasped to her chest.

Jirayia, Sasuke and Sakura directly behind her.

Sakura frowned at Sasuke, where had that come from? That he found Orochimaru less than favorable she could believe, the cursed seal didn't give him any power he could actually use after all. But where did the defense of Tsunade came from?

Bah, she didn't have the time to think, she had to prop Jirayia up, until he recovered. He probably could do this on his own, but he did accept her help with a smile. "Thanks Sakura, the less chakra I use the better eh?"

She nodded and rummaged in her pockets. She only had one soldier pill left, those didn't come cheap and she hadn't expected to need one. Not with Jirayia around, so she hadn't restocked after the invasion. "Here." She handed it to him. He looked down at it and frowned. You sure this is a good idea? I don't know much about poisons, but I do know that introducing other drugs... might not be the smartest thing in the world to do."

She blushed, Anko had mentioned that actually. "Uhh... I'm sure Tsunade wouldn't do that though... right?" She asked Shizune.

Shizune looked over her shoulder and grimaced. "She probably didn't include any lethal effects, but she might have made it so that a soldier pill just puts him to sleep again."

Jirayia grinned at her and returned the pill to her. "Keep it. You might need it more than me. Don't forget Orochimaru needs Tsunade because he's crippled. Even in this state I should be able to take him."

He seemed confident, but Sakura had seen enough false bravado from Sasuke and Naruto, and her mirror, to see through it. Jirayia was worried. And not just a little worried either. Sasuke and Shizune as well. Actually even Tonton displayed signs of worry. Great, the entire group feared what would happen in this confrontation.

She didn't have more than ten wires at her disposal, though her poison pouch hadn't actually been used since the finals, so she still had quite the selection there. She also had one or two explosive seals left and more than enough ordinary kunai. Sasuke as always would have a nice mix as well.

Now if they weren't moving out against Orchi-freaking-maru she might feel secure in the knowledge that she had enough to take on any opponent.

Only the fact that they had two sannin on their side allowed her to hurl herself towards Orochimaru. Two against one, that should be enough right? She, Sasuke and Shizune would only be there to give moral support and keep Orochimaru's minions away from the fight. She calmed considerably at that thought. Just keep the minions away and everything would be fine. They could do that!

Soon they stood in an empty street, before the ruins of the castle they had seen when they entered the city. The rubble still hadn't been cleared. And new rubble had been added recently, the entire street had been destroyed.

"Tonton, can you tell us where they've gone to?" Shizune asked the pig and set her down, she looked over the rubble with something like relief.

Tonton nodded quickly and set her nose on the ground, soon running off, outside the village. Well, that would be good, no civilians to think about. And bad, potentially more enemies to worry about.

-o-

Anko, Kakashi decided needed something to occupy her. Since Naruto had gone into his coma and since the rest of team seven had gone on their mission to bring Tsunade back she had hounded his every step. Especially since she had been notified just how weak he had really been.

He had managed to hide it well from her that first time, but Gai had to ruin everything and tell her that he still suffered from severe neural damage. Damn it, he felt fine. He could suppress the shaking easily enough and he didn't need to be chained to the bed so Anko could nurse him back to health!

Even if Anko had the advantage of being easy on the eye. She actually succeeded in making him stay in bed. Notice the actual chains she used to ensure his compliance.

"This really isn't necessary." He mutter weakly. What's worse since his first foray into freedom his situation had worsened again. He probably shouldn't have overdone it. But damn it, Gai had grinned that grin of his, the grin that meant he would get revenge for all the horrible torture sessions Kakashi had forced him through. How could he not flee at that prospect?

Really Anko would be much better than Gai. Many people thought they were friends. In reality they were bloody enemies, fighting each other in an ever escalating war of attrition. Sooner or later one of them would crack and then, and then...

"Of course this is necessary, now open up wide." Anko grinned at him.

Ok, no Gai would have been better than this, at least he wouldn't have brought witnesses!

Behind Anko stood Kurenai, barely containing her laughter, several more kunoichi stood there as well, giggling madly taking pictures of him, chained to a bed, being fed by Anko... like a toddler.

Why had he run from Gai? It would have been all fun and games with him. He obediently opened his mouth. Turning his head away would have been worse, he would have looked like an stubborn toddler.

He glared at Anko as he chewed the food. Once he got his strength back she would pay. Oh yes, he would do something to make her pay.

"Hmm you know? I think we should give the pictures of this to his team. I'm sure they'll enjoy it." Kurenai said, as she accepted the camera.

Kakashi's eyes widened. No, they wouldn't. They couldn't!

Anko laughed at that idea. "Oh, Sakura would love this. And they would see him without his mask. Bonus!"

He could barely hold back the tears, barely. Not many had seen him without a mask, many medics of course, he had ended up too often in the hospital, unconscious, for them not to have seen him without one. Many of his old teammates in Anbu, he couldn't really keep the mask on all the time and they were rather good. But not his genin team, he could still had years of fun messing with them.

"Please, everything but that!" He pleaded.

"So you'll wear the costume?" Anko grinned.

He stared back at her. "No."

"Tch, pity that. Oh well then they'll get to see your pretty face... I'm sure Sakura will appreciate it." Anko licked her lips. "Maybe she'll even drop Sasuke for you."

He narrowed his eyes, no way, no how. He had to get that camera before they had a chance to work on the film. In the corner of the room he saw a flash of green movement. Maybe his salvation had finally arrived?

-o-

Naruto growled as he paced around the sewer. He had done everything he could. He trained his chakra control till he couldn't take it anymore, it seemed like years had gone by. But in the end it only served to frustrate him, since he couldn't tell just how much he actually improved. Damn limitation of this mind-scape.

He had trained all the jutsu he knew, and then made up a thousand more. They were awesome, sure. But he had a very strong suspicion that he wouldn't actually be able to use a single jutsu outside of his mind. Again, stupid mind-scape.

He had explored the dungeon over a thousand times, he always came back to the Kyuubi and it's cage. Stupid, stupid, stupid mind-scape.

And in the meantime the Kyuubi never grew tired of mocking him.

"See brat? There's nothing you can do. Your friends have abandoned you, to die here, alone forgotten, a sad testament to your human nature." The fox showed off an impressive amount of teeth in that... smile.

Naruto didn't answer, he just grumbled to himself. There had to be something he could do, anything. He looked around the room. At least the water had warmed up lately. At the beginning it had been damn cold, not that bad if he just needed to talk to the fox for a quick boost, but it would kill you if had to stay a while in it. Of course this water didn't actually kill you, since he couldn't die here, but still.

He huffed, as the fox send him another creepy grin.

"I... Am... So... Booooooooooooooooooooored!" He groaned and fell over into the water drifting on the surface, slowly paddling away from the fox.

"Naruto? Is that you?" Somebody shouted, somebody female!

Naruto jumped up promptly and looked around. That voice had been familiar. "Ino? Ino is that you?" He shouted back.

"Yeah, it's me! Where are you?" Came the prompt reply, her voice echoing through the cavern, together with splashes of water, as she ran around in it. "Geez, why is your mind like this? Gaara's was like a town, you could easily find your way through that one." She complained.

Naruto didn't mind, hearing another human voice, one not snapped up by his body and filtered through whatever to reach him down here... Ino could have called him in idiot, insulted him worse, whatever. As long as she talked to him. "Stay there Ino, I'm coming to you, I've kinda found out how to navigate here." He shouted back. Mostly he found out by aimlessly wandering for hours and hours.

"Ok, I'll be waiting... how are you holding up Naruto? Is the Kyuubi giving you any trouble?" She sounded slightly worried.

He laughed at the question. They cared, or at least cared about the Kyuubi breaking out, but he would assume they cared about him. "Nah, he's stuck behind the seal, nice and snug. No danger at all." He reassured her.

"Oh, that's good." Why did she sound disappointed at that? He turned a corner and there she stood, looking around with interest, until she noticed him.

"Naruto! It's good to see you. I mean I've seen you before obviously, but it's good to see you walking around." She grinned and hugged him.

"Hehe, well it's hard to keep me down. You know that." He returned her hug. And damn did this feel good, to interact with somebody again, somebody beside the fox.

"Oh yes, and even harder to shut you up." She ruffled his hair and sighed. "I don't know how much time I have Naruto. I should be good for a while, but your chakra pathways are so fried... it might do weird stuff and if anything happens the doctor will pull me right out. He was reluctant to let me do this as it is."

Naruto winced, he had guessed it didn't look good if he was stuck here for so long. "How... how long have I been out? It's a bit hard to measure time here." Hopefully not too long. If it had been a year, he could maybe catch up to Sakura and Sasuke, but if it had been much more than that...

"A bit longer than a week." Ino grinned at him. "Don't worry, Sasuke and Sakura are looking... what's wrong?"

"Buh... a week? But, but this didn't feel like a week. More like a few years!" He shouted at her.

She took a step back and stared at him in confusion. "But it's only been a week Naruto, but... well the doctors said that if you were at all aware, you might have trouble noticing time." She frowned. "And, well my dad mentioned that the advanced jutsu of the clan can bring somebody into a mind-scape kinda like this." She grinned proudly. "You have no idea how surprised he was when I told him about Gaara and getting into his mind-scape. Probably a side-effect of you having the Kyuubi and him having Shukaku." She shrugged.

"Uhh, what has that to do with me being trapped here for a year and outside only a week has passed?" Naruto grumbled.

Ino bopped him over the head. He had the weird feeling that if he had a tail it would wag right about now. He missed that! Would have been better if it had been Sakura, but somebody hitting him lightly when he said something stupid felt good... well it always had. It meant they cared enough to correct him after all.

"I'm getting to that idiot. Geez Gaara is way easier to deal with." She glared at him, though the glare never really chased away the smile she wore when she saw him. "He's said that in here time flows slower, since we aren't hampered by the rest of our bodies, or maybe it's just our perception of time that gets screwed up since we have no real point of reference anymore, just our own mind and that of the other person."

Naruto frowned as he took that in. "So... I think faster in here?" He asked.

Ino looked at him flatly then nodded. "Faster yes. Not better thought."

Ahh insults, how he missed them. "Ok." He nodded, now that he knew that waiting would be... still incredibly boring, but he knew he wouldn't fall too far back at least. A week was nothing.

"So you mentioned Sakura and Sasuke." He looked at her, what were those two doing anyway?

"Ah, yes. They are looking for a cure or something. Jirayia dragged them away." She narrowed her eyes at him.

He grinned back. "Great! I'll be out of here in no time then."

She still had her eyes narrowed, was she angry at him or anything?

"Hmm aren't you curious about anybody else?" She asked, her voice sounded rather dangerous.

"Uhh... what about Gaara?" He asked tentatively... his eyes widened as he thought of the other people who had fought Gaara, alone here he hadn't really thought about them. He couldn't do much with them after all. "And the others? Are they alright? Were they hurt?" Or get an answer to these questions. Sasuke might have brooded about them, but Naruto preferred not to brood.

Ino continued to glare for a few seconds longer, then she sighed. "Well, I managed to take over Gaara, since you distracted him for so long. The rest are all fine. Hinata managed to catch you before you fell to your doom. And the rest got out of the sands way easily enough." She watched him very closely now.

"Yeah, Hinata's awesome." He cheered. "The way she moved through that sand... she was way cool in that fight."

"Ugh, you are hopeless... on the other hand, you haven't been together for very long and you weren't quite as interested in her as she was in you." Ino muttered. "Hmm she'll have to work on you a bit more I suppose... then again you are still young and boys develop later than girls. Huh, that might actually be it, you are just not as mature as she is."

Naruto looked at Ino, what the hell was she babbling on about?

"Anyway, Hinata's worried about you and spending as much time as she can with you, even though you are pretty much just sleeping there." Ino told him.

He blinked, Hinata watched over him? As much as she could? "Oh, that's... that's..." He grinned at Ino. "Tell her thanks for me ok? That's awesome of her." He turned around, to hide the tears. Nobody had ever really watched over him like that when he had been sick. Not that it had happened often, or for long times anyway. Still the doctors hadn't really bothered, and his caretakers had been too busy too.

He wiped the tears away and turned back to Ino. Now she smiled at him, weird girl.

"Ok I will. And to finish the story of what happened after you lost consciousness, we managed to capture Gaara, Sand and Sound retreated and Konoha is safe again. Mostly thanks to you by the way." She grinned widely at that. "You are the talk of the town, everybody is talking about you hurting yourself to defeat Gaara." She frowned a bit. "We aren't really mentioned in most of the stories. But then, we are walking around, so I suppose you can have the spotlight for now."

Naruto didn't quite know what to say to that. "Uhh... so is that a good thing?" He asked.

Ino groaned, but suddenly she looked at him sharply. "You wouldn't know would you? Yes, this is a good thing. Makes them realize that they were being unfair to you. Though you are still an idiot."

He chuckled weakly, some things would never change. "What happens to Gaara now?"

She shrugged. "Eh, since we aren't in a position where war has many advantages for us he'll probably be handed over to Sand again. Apparently Orochimaru killed the Kazekage, giving them a convenient way to shed the blame." She sighed. "And us a convenient way to accept said shedding. Bah, politics."

He raised an eyebrow, he really didn't get what she was talking about. A quick look at him told her that as well. "What? And you want to become Hokage? Geez Naruto you'll need to understand stuff like that."

He huffed. "I understand well enough. Orochimaru made Sand invade, Sand has found a way to make peace, now that Orochimaru doesn't have control over them anymore and we are taking it."

The details weren't really that important were they?

Ino huffed as well. "I suppose if you don't want to go really deeply into the real problems."

He grinned at her, he knew he had a lot to learn before he could become Hokage, including all the boring book stuff. But that had time, who ever heard of somebody becoming Hokage in their teens? No, he would have enough time to learn after he became an awesome ninja.

"So, when do you think Sakura and Sasuke will be back?" He asked.

"No idea, they didn't really tell me much, beside that they left to search for a cure. Could be tomorrow could be another week or maybe even a month." She looked at him sadly.

"Oh... eh, I'll manage somehow." He shrugged, a month would be hell. But at least he had something to look forward to.

"I'll visit so you won't go mad with boredom." Ino promised. "Also I need to get some messages from Hinata for you... though you can totally forget delivering a few of them. That was a one time thing." She nodded to herself.

He blinked. "Huh? What are you talking about?"

Ino's palm met her face. "Ugh, I don't get what Hinata sees in you. Hell Gaara is better at understanding people than you are."

"Hey!" No way was Gaara better than him at that.

"Anyway, I have to go, tell them that everything went fine. I'll take to you later, and we'll try to see how much time passes subjectively for you ok?"

"Yes. Maybe you can get me something to train while here? You know awesome new techniques and so on?" He looked at her hopefully.

She rolled her eyes. "If it was this easy don't you think everybody would do it? This is just a visualization of your mind. It's not real you can't train here. Or at least that's what dad always says."

"Kinda figured that. But I think my chakra control did improve, somewhat at least."

"Maybe, I suppose there are some areas that you could train here. Dunno if it really works though." She looked at him, thinking about it.

Slowly she faded from view. "I'll be back later." She chirped as she noticed.

A second later he found himself alone again, only the harping of the fox for company. He had been quiet when Ino was around, but as soon as she disappeared he started yammering again. This time Naruto didn't have a problem ignoring it however. His teammates were looking for a cure and his friends were looking over him.

-o-

Gaara woke up slowly. He murmured and turned around. He loved sleep far too much to just give it up. Since he had been captured his life had become so much better. Sure, he couldn't leave this room. But since they allowed him to sleep he didn't even want to. His nose twitched, as he noticed a familiar scent. Not for the first time he wondered if she wore the scent on missions as well. He somewhat doubted it, Ino didn't strike him as stupid.

"Hey." Ino greeted him once he shook himself to wakefulness. He knew he hadn't slept for as long as he could sleep, but for somebody who had gotten away on no sleep for nearly all of his life, a few hours sleep more or less didn't matter. The deep rings underneath his eyes had nearly disappeared already. Honestly, he dreaded leaving Konoha and having to deal with the sleep deprivation again.

"Hey." He returned the greeting.

"I've just had a talk with Naruto." Ino started the conversation.

He nodded. "He's awake then?"

"No, I've gone into his mind. Honestly I prefer your mind. At least it's dry." Ino smiled at him, he smiled back. That had gotten easier as well.

"Still, he's fine in there. Bored but fine. So I'm even more inclined to forgive you for attacking us." Ino grinned at him happily.

He would have pointed out that technically they attacked him and if Sasuke had just stayed away he might have gotten Shukaku under control again. But he thought better of it. Technically he had been with an invading force and as such probably counted as attacking even so. And maybe he wouldn't have gotten Shukaku under control and they would have attacked Konoha anyway.

"That's good." He agreed. "That he's alright I mean." The other thing he didn't mind either, but she knew that.

"Yes, it is. I just wish we had any news from Sakura and Sasuke." She sighed as she leaned against the door. As always they had a distance separating them. He didn't mind, touching still frightened him a bit. Especially without his sand armor.

"Well, no use crying over that. We got news from Suna as well. They are rebuilding and are willing to send a negotiator for your release soon." She added.

At that he scowled. "I would prefer to stay here." He muttered.

She looked at him quizzically and shrugged. "Well, we can't keep you, sorry. We can't risk a war with Sand and you aren't exactly well liked here."

He locked down. "Better liked than back home."

Ino winced at the admission. "Err... well... I'm sure you can work on that once you get back."

"Then Shukaku will fight me again, clawing at my mind." And that frightened him more than anything else. Could he continue this fight, now that he knew peace? Or would he break under the strain?

Ino chewed on her lips. "I'll... I'll ask my father about something. Maybe we can do something about that." She turned and rapped on the door. "Don't go anywhere now." She giggled and winked at him.

He shot her a flat glare. She wasn't nearly as funny as she seemed to think she was.

-o-

Sasuke frowned as they approached the battlefield where Orochimaru and Tsunade fought. From what he remembered the third had crippled Orochimaru. So how could he fight Tsunade? It made no sense whatsoever.

His sharingan whirled as he watched the battlefield, trying to make out the tiny figures still so far away. He could barely see... ahh. A simple thing to get around that handicap. Orochimaru didn't fight Tsunade. One of his underlings did the fighting. Sasuke didn't know which, but the tall figure with the black hair had to be Orochimaru.

He simply stood there, watching the fight happen.

"Damn, can anybody see anything of what's going on?" Sakura asked, straining to see anything as well.

"One of Orochimaru's underlings is fighting Tsunade. No idea who it is." Sasuke quickly answered. He couldn't tell, even if he knew anything about them.

Jirayia frowned. "It doesn't really look good. Just one..." He winced as the underling did something. "Yeah, just one good cut and it's over. Hurry!" He accelerated, even in his drugged state he could be damn fast if he wanted to be. His hands flew into handseals, and suddenly Sasuke found himself accelerated, much faster than even his best speed technique. They arrived in a cloud of smoke, where ever they were. As the cloud cleared he realized exactly where Jirayia had jumped them.

Right in front of Tsunade, facing...

"Kabuto?" Sakura said in surprise.

Sasuke frowned, now that she said his name, he recognized him, that genin from the first exams. The one that had failed so often, just now he wore a Sound headband.

"So, that's why you failed as often as you did." Sasuke growled at him. "And why you had information on everybody."

"Haha, you are as fast as ever Sasuke." Kabuto replied, watching them with what looked like a smile at first glance, but it didn't reach his eyes. Those were ice cold and screamed murder.

"Ohh, hello Sasuke, did you think about my offer?" Orochimaru seemed rather pleased to see him.

Sasuke scoffed. "As if. Your seal is pathetic. The one time I use it and it's more of a hindrance than a help." He sneered at the Sannin. And damn did he look pathetic, with his arms wrapped up like that. "I don't need power from somebody as weak as you."

Did Kabuto smirk at that? If he did he hid it almost immediately. Orochimaru didn't stop smiling though. "Oh, you think I'm weak?" He looked at them. "Well I suppose the situation would give off that image. Then again, if I crush you all here, I'm sure you'll understand true power."

"Damn it. What are you doing here?" She glared at Tonton. "I bet you led them here." The pig hid herself behind Shizune, before Tsunade could really get angry at it. "You should have stayed out of this." She growled.

"And have Orochimaru capture you?" Jirayia answered easily. "No way. You have this weakness Tsunade, don't try to deny that." He smirked at Orochimaru. "In any case, now that I'm here it's over." He bit his thumb. "Summoning no Jutsu!" A cloud of smoke obscured Orochimaru for a second. Only to reveal a tiny little frog.

"Gah! That damn poison still affects me like this!" Jirayia groaned.

"Kekeke, still as much of a failure as ever eh Jirayia?" Orochimaru taunted him. Sasuke frowned, with his chakra blocked Jirayia couldn't fight at his best. On the other hand Orochimaru didn't have any jutsu himself, so they were pretty evenly matched, hopefully. All they had to do was get Tsunade out of here, retreat and wait for the poison to wear off. Then they could...

"Kabuto." Orochimaru commanded and Kabuto jumped forward, grabbed Orochimaru's hand and they did something. "Summoning no Jutsu."

Another cloud of smoke appeared, this time much larger. And two gigantic snakes stood in front of them.

Sasuke could hear Sakura groan. This would be problematic.

Jirayia jumped forward, and used another jutsu, some sort of swamp... Sasuke's eyes widened as the ground beneath the snakes turned into a giant swamp.

"You have enough chakra for that and you still mess up the toad summoning like that?" Sakura screamed, though Sasuke doubted Jirayia heard her. He immediately went after Orochimaru.

"Shizune! Get Tsunade out of here!" Jirayia shouted back. So maybe he heard her.

Shizune nodded. "You heard him, let's go."

"And where do you think you are going?" Kabuto asked, deceptively pleasant. Sasuke twitched, he had barely noticed him show up.

"Out of my way." Shizune shouted and used some sort of armband launchers on him. But Kabuto simply disappeared, if he ever had been there to begin with. Sasuke reactivated his sharingan. He'd need it in this confrontation.

Tsunade still just stood there, shaking. He had thought she had shaken whatever Kabuto had used on her, but it seemed like she had only had a temporary reprieve.

"Sasuke, we have to help Shizune." Sakura said to him, as she searched for Kabuto.

"I know." He growled back, did she think he was stupid?

Their heads turned to Shizune as she jumped up suddenly. Beneath her Kabuto attempted to grab her legs. Worse he seemed to have succeeded. It left him open to an attack from Sakura however and she used the opportunity ruthlessly, to send several kunai his way.

Sasuke meanwhile closed in on him from the other side. With them attacking from three sides Kabuto wouldn't be able to defend himself properly.

As soon as he noticed the kunai coming his way Kabuto let go of Shizune, instead he focused on dodging them. He succeeded as well, but that left him open to an attack by Shizune... if she hadn't dropped to the ground with a cry of pain, as soon as her feet touched the ground. He must have done something to them, just by touching them?

Sasuke growled and flung several of his own kunai at Kabuto, he dodged them as well.

The one explosive seal in the batch did catch him in the back and flung him towards Sasuke however and with that right into his sharingan. They looked eyes for just a second, more than enough for Sasuke to ensnare Kabuto. "It's over." He whispered.

Still in flight, Kabuto's hands formed Kai and broke out of the genjutsu. "Really Sasuke, don't you think I would notice if you force me into a genjutsu?" Kabuto grinned. "But this is an excellent opportunity to..." He grinned rather unsettling. And Sasuke barely managed to dodge an on coming swipe. Only for his chest to explode in pain.

"Tch, I missed." Kabuto observed causally, even as he jumped back, avoiding several of Sakura's kunai and wires. Through the haze of pain Sasuke could see him grimace for a second, holding his own hand, the one that still bled a bit. He switched his attention to Sakura.

"Hmm well, I wanted to see how you are doing as well Sakura-chan. You did really well in the exams you know?" Kabuto grinned at her.

Sasuke wanted to growl, but all his energy had to be focused on pumping air into his had Kabuto done to him? Weakly he pushed himself up.

"Careful." Shizune groaned. "He's a medic nin. And he's good enough to use chakra scalpels in battle."

"Chakra scalpels?" Sakura asked confused, keeping an eye on Kabuto, who seemed content to watch her in return.

"He can focus his chakra in a way that allows him to cut up your internal organs without breaking the skin." Shizune groaned, quickly healing her legs.

Sasuke winced, hopefully his lungs weren't too damaged by this. He forced more air into them. If he could heal himself like Shizune this wouldn't be too much of a problem, Sakura could distract Kabuto a bit and he would be as good as new, but as he couldn't heal himself, he had to rely on Shizune to patch him up. A glance at Tsunade confirmed that for the moment she wouldn't do him any good.

In the distance Orochimaru growled something, but even if Sasuke didn't focus more on what happened here, he wouldn't have understood anything. He grew lightheaded, from the lack of air and his lungs hurt even worse than a few seconds ago. He looked Sakura in the eyes. She nodded and attacked Kabuto, flinging kunai after kunai at him.

Obviously Kabuto easily dodged every single one, slowly edging closer to Sakura. The bastard didn't even bother to hide that he was playing with her. Sasuke coughed as he dragged himself towards Shizune.

"Sasuke." Shizune whispered as he collapsed beside her, desperately sucking in air. "Don't worry, I'll have you fixed immediately." She said, her glowing hands wandering over his chest.

He grimaced as he saw Kabuto finally reach Sakura. He didn't have much time.

-o-

Sakura screamed in rage. The goddamn asshole seemed to enjoy this, circling her silently, easily evading every projectile she send his way.

"You know? I really, really want to kill Sasuke. And here is a prime opportunity." He grinned at her, somehow making it look extremely sinister. "But alas, I can only claim it as an accident if he actually fights me." He leaned slightly to the side to avoid her fist. "And for that I need him to be at least somewhat capable of... well moving. So lets enjoy this little game of ours a little while eh?"

She wanted to howl again, instead she darted in, sure he would hit her. But since he was so intent on playing with her, she might be able to surprise him.

Her hand lashed out and he didn't even bother dodging. The kunai slammed into his chest and sank in to the hilt. Sakura stared at her fist in utter consternation. "Huh?" She muttered.

"My, my that was rather fast." Kabuto's voice sounded from behind her. Making her jump over his clone, which busied itself with falling apart. When had he switched positions? Luckily she didn't waste any poison on that knife. A fist lashed out and hit her shoulder. Her eyes widened as she felt something inside her shoulder being cut. She had barely felt the actual punch. Damn those chakra knives.

"Hmm, so one of your shoulders is useless now. I wonder what you'll do?" He asked his voice full of mock curiosity.

She glared back at him. She had an idea of how to keep her shoulder moving, once of her wires around her arm. But that wouldn't be nearly fast enough to keep up with him and drain her pretty damn fast, better to leave the arm as it was for the moment.

She tried moving her hand and found that to be no problem. Her arm twitched for a second, but it hurt far too much to actually move that. She panted at the pain, she supposed that if she had to, she could work through the pain. One look at Kabuto's mocking face and she realized just how little good that would do her.

"You are an utter bastard you know that?" She panted.

"You wound me Sakura." He replied. "I'm just trying to learn here." She glanced at Shizune and Sasuke. He seemed to look better, but he also was busy puking out blood, so she didn't know what to think about that.

Kabuto glanced back as well. "Oh don't worry, Shizune's only pumping out the blood that has accumulated in his lungs. Hmm though considering just how much blood is coming out I think at some point Sasuke just started puking his guts out as well." He seemed to find that terrible amusing. "He's quite the specimen when you look at him like this, isn't he?"

Yeah, just keep talking and pay no attention to me. Sakura thought, carefully readying a kunai. Just as he turned around she struck, aiming for his head. But as expected he simply dodged around her punch. He couldn't avoid the kunai snaking out of her sleeve though and she managed to capture his arm. Not that it meant much, he had both arms free and could thus break her hold easily. Or he could simply pummel her with his chakra scalpels. No she had to hurry, from her hurt arm another kunai snuck out and she moved her arm. Tears shot to her eyes as the pain rushed into her brain.

She couldn't even scream and Kabuto amused, plucked the kunai out of her hand. "Nice try, but far too slow. Hmm I wonder..." His eyes widened as he saw the vial hidden inside her hand. Through the tears she smirked as she crushed it, releasing the gas inside. And since he had brought the hand to his face, to study the kunai and the poison on it, he couldn't avoid the gas.

Still, he somehow cut her wire and pushed away from her a second later. She felt woozy, as the gas began to work, overpowering her adrenalin and sending her to sleep.

Kabuto stumbled around a bit though, so she once again could leave the rest to her teammates.

-o-

Sasuke smirked as he saw Kabuto distance himself from Sakura. Shizune had just finished and he was ready for round two.

"Careful now Sasuke, wait till I'm ready..." But he ignored her. Kabuto had been weakened by Sakura's poison, he had a rough idea where the sleeping gas would be and he didn't have time to waste.

"Take care of Tsunade." He shouted over his back and charged Kabuto. The bastard had taken him by surprise the last time. But this time, he would be faster.

Kabuto whirled around, a tiny grin on his face. Tsunade watched the fight still barely moving at all.

And Sasuke would show her why nobody messed with his teammates. Kabuto's hands were dangerous, he couldn't afford to block them and he had to dodge them by a wide margin as well. Hopefully he went down fast, the gas should ensure that, if he moved around a bit.

Sasuke started the second round with several kunai. If only Sakura had still been awake, they could have coordinated much better this time around. Now that they knew what they were getting themselves into.

Still, weakened as he Kabuto was... he still managed to dodge the kunai almost effortlessly. Sasuke growled, Kabuto also carefully watched his torso, not his face. Making his genjutsu nearly useless.

Fainting a kick, Sasuke instead went for a quick jab to the face, but somehow Kabuto predicted that and moved to block. Barely in time Sasuke retracted his fist and flung a kunai at the older boy. It managed to nick him, but no serious harm had been done.

"Nice Sasuke. Really nice." Kabuto complemented him. "But sadly not nearly enough." He whirled into a spinning kick, which Sasuke barely managed to dodge by throwing himself backward and into a handstand. Shouldn't Kabuto be slower?

"Oh, please don't think her sleeping gas was all that effective on me. Sure it's a bit draining to filter out of my body. But it's not nearly as debilitating as you seem to think it is." Sasuke's eyes widened as he felt Kabuto's fist hit his chest again. Much harder this time. Blood immediately sprouted from his mouth as his lungs pumped it straight up.

"Hmm... well that would have been a fatal punch... my bad." Kabuto smirked at him.

Desperately Sasuke sucked in air, but it just didn't seem to do anything. And it hurt. It hurt so much... if he could just heal the damage somehow, his eyes followed Kabuto angrily as he slowly walked over to Sakura. Shizune tried to stop him, or maybe she tried to get to Sasuke. But Kabuto moved like a snake and somehow managed to slip several punched under her defense.

Shizune crumbled to the ground and Sasuke realized that she may well be dead. It all happened so fast, not even five seconds had passed.

"Well, while I applaud your last trap. Overall it had been disappointing." Kabuto looked down at Sakura. "I'm afraid I can't let something like that slide." Sasuke could just imagine the sick grin on his face, as he forced himself to his feet. Not again, he wouldn't let somebody close to him die again. He wouldn't let Sakura die. He wouldn't, he took a step forward, even as his chest protested with a wave of pain.

He took another step as Kabuto reached Sakura, and other and other, soon her found himself running towards Kabuto, but so slow, so unbearably slow. He needed more power, he needed more strength. The seal on his neck flared to life, flooding him with power. And this time he could feel the difference it made, in a way he couldn't with Itachi, he could feel the rage flooding through him, empowering him.

He reached Kabuto, who had reared his fist back, ready to kill Sakura. He wouldn't use a kunai to kill the bastard, his own hands would be enough to...

But Kabuto whirled around, his hand grabbed Sasuke's wrist and pain blossomed there as well, he dragged on it, even as his other hand wandered all over Sasuke's arm, his other arm. He idly noticed a leg lift him up and throw him over Sakura. Somehow Kabuto managed to get his legs as well, severing something.

He landed roughly, but he didn't really notice it. All he noticed was that once again Orochimaru's seal had failed, failed quite spectacularly. Now, that he had a second to think about it, he should have seen that Kabuto had noticed him, he should have seen that Kabuto had readied himself for him. But no, in his blind rage he had just wanted to slam into him, to rip him apart. If he had any air to waste he would have snorted. Kabuto rolled his eyes at him. "Honestly, I think Naruto has more talent than you Sasuke." He turned back to Sakura.

Sasuke wanted to do something, he wanted to... but everything turned black.

-o-

Tsunade watched the fight in muted horror. She had felt a moment of hope, as Sakura managed to catch Kabuto in the gas for a second, but the gamble hadn't paid off. She had only incapacitated herself. Making it all the easier for Kabuto to win the fight. As Sasuke suddenly found himself alone.

Then Kabuto had hit Sasuke again. Or better he really hit him this time. Not just a glancing blow. Shizune fell a second later. She wanted to shout, to scream to do something, anything. But all she could see were Dan and her brother, their broken bodies before her.

And she didn't move. "Not again." She whispered to herself. She didn't even know these kids that well. All she knew about them was that they wanted her to come back with them, or that failing that, they were willing to learn what they needed to heal their friend themselves.

And that they worked hard, so very hard to improve themselves. But in this fight, against an opponent like Kabuto, they needed better coordination, they needed time to think, they needed her support.

Sasuke somehow forced himself to his knees again. Even with the mess his lungs must have been, he somehow managed to push himself up again and even charge Kabuto. She frowned as she felt some weird chakra rippled around him. It didn't feel right, not right at all, but if it helped him beat Kabuto...

Instead he charged Kabuto blindly, stupidly and Kabuto threw him away like a used tissue. He landed right next to her she noticed as Kabuto turned away. Ignoring the blood she scrambled to Sasuke, her hands moving over his chest almost on their own accord.

Kabuto stopped and sighed. "It's useless, maybe if he hadn't exerted himself so much. Maybe if he hadn't used the cursed seal... but as it is. He's dead and there is nothing you can do." He smirked at the last part. "Better to just accept the inevitable and heal Orochimaru."

She heard him, but she didn't care. She continued regardless. Just pump new air into the lungs, heal the damage to them, heal the nick in his heart, his heart that hadn't beaten when she had laid her hands on him...

-o-

Sasuke found himself in a great dark space. He couldn't see anything, anything at all. He couldn't see anything, hear anything or feel anything. Just darkness. So, this was death... seemed peaceful really.

He looked around and suddenly he saw Sakura. Pale, still and dead. He flinched, because he hadn't been strong enough...

She disappeared and instead Naruto showed up. He wasn't dead, but he might as well have been, he moved around slowly, his eyes had lost their fire. And Sasuke knew without a doubt that Naruto couldn't use chakra at all. His chakra coils had been destroyed to spare him the pain and he had to give up his ninja career. It might have been more merciful to kill him.

He disappeared, just like Sakura, instead Shizune laid on the floor... or what went for floor here. As dead as Sakura. He hadn't know her long, but she had helped him, she had made him and Sakura stronger. Not enough against Kabuto, but he had weapons and techniques that Sasuke simply didn't have the time to counter, the chakra scalpels for one.

She shouldn't have to die for his mistakes.

And she went away as well, replaced with Tsunade. A Tsunade chained to something, healing some weird thing after another. Enslaved by Orochimaru to help him do whatever he wanted. Sasuke bristled. No way, the old woman might deserve a beating for giving up, but that was just too much.

The scene shifted again, just this time he saw his own corpse, but the others alive around it. Sakura looked as dead as Naruto had before, but... different nevertheless. She still had fire in her, but... that was her expression after the forest, the expression where she buried all her emotions behind that wall. He didn't like that Sakura, he didn't like her at all. The other Sakura was much better, even if she was more annoying as well.

Naruto looked better, but not by much. He blamed himself, Sasuke could plainly see it.

Jirayia looked broken. Another failure. Tsunade looked sad... and what was she doing at his funeral anyway?

He shook his head. And suddenly Itachi stood before him.

Sasuke threw himself back, away from him.

"You can't die yet." Itachi said. "You haven't killed me yet."

The entire area seemed full of Itachis. All closing in on him, all holding weapons.

"No." Sasuke whispered, he couldn't die just yet. Not just because of Itachi. Too much depended on him. He closed his eyes and as he opened them again, everything he saw before surrounded him. No. He couldn't die yet. He couldn't let Sakura die, he couldn't let Naruto die, he couldn't let Itachi win! He just couldn't...

-o-

Tsunade didn't try to stop the tears. Sasuke hadn't really been that close to her, they probably wouldn't have gotten close even if they did have the time. Actually, if they had gone through with the bet, one way or the other they would have gotten to know each other.

But he was another failure, another life she couldn't save. She whimpered quietly, everything she touched... every thing she ever touched turned to dust.

She barely registered the hand on her chest, feebly trying to push her away. Slowly her eyes opened. Beneath her Sasuke glared back and gave it another try. How he could even lift his hand was a mystery to her, with his arm cut up as it was.

He gurgled something and a spat out a thick glob of blood. Tsunade stared at it, for the first time in years without fear and loathing, but with reliefe. Against her will a smile forced itself onto her lips.

Sasuke tried to push himself up again, but predictably fell back. "I..." He croaked weakly. "I... need to protect... need to..." He coughed even more blood, all over her hands, it didn't stop her smiling.

"Stay down Sasuke." She ordered. "I'll deal with this." She looked at him. Stubbornly he refused to listen and attempted to push her away again. She raised an eyebrow at his attempt to dislodge her. "How did you think you could last even a minute against me like this? Once this is over you better believe I will kick your asses until you can fight me decently." She pushed herself up. Kabuto stared at Sasuke, something akin to shock on his face.

"I... must honestly say this surprises me." He admitted. "That Sasuke had the strength to push on even after that wound... I'm impressed, very impressed." He frowned at the boy. "But really. Ultimately it's futile, because you are far too late." He reared his hand back, clearly planning to kill the girl Sasuke had fought so hard to protect, even after he should have died.

Tsunade didn't waste any time, she couldn't stop Kabuto, not with him so close and her so far. What she could do however, her hands slammed into a seal and a second later pain erupted in her chest, as Kabuto once again slammed his fist into it. His eyes widened as he realized that he hadn't hit Haruno.

"Substitution technique." He muttered. "Is she that important to you?"

"Not to me, but to Sasuke." Tsunade growled. "And I won't allow you to hurt him more." The little brat reminded her far too much of herself.

She ignored the pain in her chest, she could heal it in a few seconds. Kabuto's eyes had flickered over to Sakura for a second, but Tsunade's fist needed only that one second to slam into his chest and send him into a rock a good ten meters away.

A strangled whimper could be heard from the rock. Tsunade stared in shock as Kabuto got up again. Even though his chest resembled a shattered mess of flesh and bones.

She glared as the bones somehow pulled themselves back together and the flesh beneath slowly but surely flowed around them. "You can heal yourself even like that?" She muttered, a hand hovering over her own chest, healing the damage he had inflicted on her before he had realized he was hitting her.

He tried speaking, but his ruined lungs made that rather impossible. Tsunade found she didn't mind it much. He spat more blood onto the ground around him, leaning against the stone she had embedded him in.

"Well, let's end this." She muttered, it looked as if she had enough time to finish him off before he recovered enough to defend himself again. Instead he pointed at Sakura a weak grin on his face.

Tsunade frowned, but her eyes flickered over to the girl and spotted Orochimaru making a beeline for her. Jirayia couldn't do much, as he still had to fight with the effects of her poison. Really she could beat herself over that.

Sasuke tried to crawl over to Sakura and shield her with his body, but he barely moved an inch, so Tsunade started her own charge towards the girl. No way would she allow Orochimaru to do what she had denied his little servant. It would be close though, very close, she could see the tip of the sword glint in the sunlight, aligned perfectly with Sakura's heart, but if she changed her trajectory just a little bit... Orochimaru noticed her rush him and threw himself away from Sakura.

The sword disappeared into his throat again and he growled at her. "Tch. I honestly don't see why you are interested in this trash." He nodded at Sakura. "She's absolutely useless."

Tsunade raised an eyebrow. The girl might not play in Sasuke's league, even a casual glance at their training revealed that, but talentless? That she could keep up with him at all, no matter how far behind paid a lie to that. "Then why kill her?" She asked, behind her she could feel Kabuto slowly circling around her. She could also hear him suck in air greedily. His regeneration apparently hadn't finished entirely.

A few seconds later he stumbled beside Orochimaru, who looked at him with something that might have been concern. On the face anybody else. "Are you going to be of any use?" He asked his underling.

Kabuto nodded weakly. "I'll manage, she's over her phobia by the way."

Orochimaru looked at her, her and her blood covered hands. "I didn't notice." He deadpanned.

"Hehe... the blood loss is making it a bit difficult to keep a clear head." Kabuto admitted.

Jirayia stepped beside them. "So, any reason for you to go after one of my students?" He asked mildly. "You just mentioned something about her ruining your plans. And you no longer taking it." It seemed to amuse him greatly.

Frowning Orochimaru turned to Jirayia. "She's a bad influence on Sasuke, I wanted to remove her, for his sake."

Tsunade's eyes flickered to Sasuke, who glared at Orochimaru, fury in his eyes. "That doesn't seem like you, honestly. After all it would turn Sasuke against you."

He shrugged. "He's worthless as it is. I've already given up on him."

She could see Sasuke's mouth moving, probably hurling an insult at Orochimaru, but he didn't have the strength to make himself heard. "I disagree, obviously. He's much stronger than you could ever hope to be." She snapped.

"Hehe, we'll see. After I'm done with you I'll show Sasuke just how insignificant he really is."

-o-

Sasuke growled at that, or tried to. He couldn't give off more than a weak grumble. Never mind the insults he wanted to hurl at Orochimaru.

But Kabuto had shown him that he had a long way to go. And that being a medic nin had some impressive advantages. The way he recovered from having his chest reduced to minced meat... luckily he already emptied his stomach, otherwise he would have emptied it then and there.

He could see Shizune slowly getting back up, after she healed her various wounds, or the important ones at least. Sakura still slept, they would probably need to feed her the soldier pill. If only he could move. But even with Tsunade healing him, he felt utterly spend. Much more than he should after the fighting he did. Stupid cursed seal, the thing only made him weaker. No matter how strong he felt while it activated.

He took a few deep breaths.

"Summoning no Jutsu!" The shout came from three throats and Sasuke moved his head back and let out a weak whistle at the titanic figures that had suddenly appeared.

"Shizune. Get the kids out of here." Tsunade shouted at her assistant, from the top of a giant slug.

Jirayia sat on the head of a giant toad... with a really big sword. For a brief moment Sasuke wanted that sword, even if he couldn't swing it around and it would scream compensating for something. The damn thing would just be awesome.

He shook off the idea and looked at Orochimaru's summoning. A giant snake, how original. But also dangerous, the other summoning didn't have any weapons to fight the snake with... he frowned, at least the frog had a weapon.

He took another deep breath. He couldn't forget that he had suffered some rather dangerous injuries. Blood loss too, his thinking probably wouldn't be all that coherent for the next few hours, but he wouldn't miss a second of this.

"Sasuke, are you awake?" Shizune asked, panting heavily from the exertion of moving.

He blinked at her once. Everything else would take too much effort.

"Good, we need to get out of here. If we are in the way we'll be crushed." She explained and slung Sakura over her shoulder. A second later she grabbed him and jumped away. He winced, the jumping really didn't help his body, but at this point the pain didn't seems so bad anyway. It had turned into a dull ever-present ache all over his body, but strangely muted.

Luckily Shizune had been considerate and carried him in a way that allowed him to see the snake tail crash right were he and Sakura had laid a second before. That explained why she had just grabbed a leg and dragged him behind her. In mid jump she somehow managed to grab him and swing him over her shoulder as well. He could feel her heart beat in her chest. Racing, just as her breath. Sweat and blood filled his nostril as he saw the snake tail come down again and again.

He blinked and the image disappeared. Shizune had come down a good distance away from the fight and set them down. But he couldn't see anything anymore! "Wanna see." He croaked, pathetically weak. Once this was over training would be resumed, with a vengeance. He wouldn't fail like this again. Ever. Next time he would fail after fighting for much longer.

He blinked. No, no he wouldn't...

Shizune forced a pill into his mouth. "Here, I can't do much more, I'm as spend as you are. But the pill should at least help you recover some lost blood."

She turned to Sakura and forced another pill into her mouth. Probably the soldier pill.

Then she returned to him. "Are you going to be alright?" She asked. He frowned, why would she ask that? He had survived. Of course he would be all right. As long as he and his teammates survived he would be alright. No questions asked. "Wanna see." He muttered again, and this time he could actually make himself heard. Damn the pill worked fast. He think much better already. Sharp pain rushed through his body, as his pain receptors worked much more efficiently as well. He groaned, bad trade off.

Shizune frowned at him for a few seconds, then nodded and dragged him on top of the stones they used as cover.

From behind them they could hear Sakura groaning. Sasuke would have some choice words about teamwork and stupid moves once he could move again... and beat them into her. She was the one always going on about teamwork, only to forget it in this fight.

For now though, he had more important things to see. The gigantic firestorm Jirayia and his toad had unleashed at the snake for example. He could feel his mouth open in wonder. That... that was just awesome.

It took at least five seconds for the fire to die down. Only to reveal that the snake had left behind it's skin and disappeared. Where... his eyes moved frantically as he searched for it. It couldn't just disappear... could it?

Sudden movement drew his attention away from the snake and back to the toad. Where had the slug gone anyway? He couldn't see it anymore. Not important, the toad used it's sword to slash at... the snake. It hid under the ground.

Sasuke swore next time he fought anybody he would always keep an eye on the ground. Enemies seemed to love attacking from there.

But the snake had been faster and whipped the sword out of the toads hands. Sasuke cursed under his breath as he saw the head of the snake appear behind the toad. It whirled around, but Sasuke could already tell it would be too late. He winced as he imagined those fangs rip into the toad. Such power... he glared at the snake, to have such power... the giant toad sword slammed into the snout of the snake, nailing it to the ground.

As he saw who stood on top of the sword his jaw hit the ground. Tsunade had used the freaking giant sword. Tsunade had swung a sword a hundred times as big as her and nailed a snake just as big to the ground!

"Fuck me sideways." Sakura cursed. "Did you see that? Did you see that?" She repeated. "Tsunade just... sword, snake... bam." They looked at each other. "And we wanted to fight her?"

Shizune snickered behind them, but really they couldn't do much about that. Couldn't really disagree with her either. That had been... an impressive display of power.

Sasuke looked at the woman punching Orochimaru around. He looked more like a punching bag than a sannin. He grinned at the display. Served him right for giving him this useless seal.

A second later Orochimaru somehow made his way back to Kabuto. He didn't seem that much worse for wear, even with Tsunades punches. Then again he stood so far away Sasuke couldn't really make out any details. And he didn't have enough chakra left to activate his sharingan either.

More talk, then Orochimaru and Kabuto disappeared. Did he imagine it or did Kabuto give him a weird grin? Must have. No way for him to make out any details over this distance after all.

Sakura sagged down beside him. "Damn... that was... utterly awesome." She muttered.

She looked at her own hands and snorted. "And going by your state I've been worse than useless."

He winced at that, but narrowed his eyes. "Then don't go out alone." He grumbled. "Aren't you the one always shouting about teamwork?"

She looked down at him. And damn her for having the strength to sit up. "I... yeah. Damn, that's, I've been stupid."

Shizune shook her head. "You went up against far superior enemies. Don't be so hard on yourself." She tried to console them.

Sakura pointed at the battlefield. "But how are we supposed to last any time against a Tsunade who goes all out. Did you see what she did with that sword?"

Shizune grinned. "I know, but I don't think Tsunade would have gone all out anyway."

That didn't help. Sasuke thought, but somehow, now that everything was over, he felt so damn tir...

-o-

Thanks to ZusVayo for betaing again.


	20. Recovery

Expectations of Development

-o-

Recovery

-o-

Looking down on Sasuke she could almost, almost convince herself that she had made the right decision. He didn't look as if he had just survived an almost impossible hard fight, against opponents far out of their league.

With a sigh Sakura turned around and plopped down into her own bed. In the end however she had thrown her own ideals away and tried to fight alone... well, not really. If her attack had worked, at least a little bit Kabuto would have been easy prey for Sasuke and Orochimaru would have been dead.

Grumbling, she buried her face in her pillow. Would have, could have. It didn't matter. The attack had failed, she had left Sasuke alone and only luck had saved them. Luck that Tsunade had somehow managed to bring Sasuke back, luck that she managed to hit Kabuto like that.

Actually, only the thing with Sasuke had been luck, everything else had been pure skill.

"Still beating yourself up over the fight?" Jirayia asked, sitting on his own bed on the other side of the room.

"I was stupid." She answered.

"Eh, you're young and inexperienced. I would worry more if you only made the right decisions in combat. Especially against opponents that much older and stronger." Jirayia tried to comfort her.

"Oh? So you are saying I should just go on like this? Make blunder after blunder, risking my teammates and friends?" She snorted.

From the corner of her eyes she could see his glare. "No. You should learn from them and avoid making them in the future. And you should stop the self flagellation. It doesn't help, makes things worse actually, and it makes you look like an idiot."

She returned the glare, but Jirayia could out glare her easily. Quickly she looked away.

"I guess." She sighed.

"Hey, you had front row seats to a fight between the Sannin. Not many people could claim that!" His glare had disappeared, replaced with a proud grin.

"Heh, yeah. That fight had been awesome." She smirked at him. "Especially the part where Tsunade saved your ass by nailing the snake to the ground with your sword."

Jirayia drew back in mock hurt. "First of all, it belonged to Gamabunta. Secondly, she merely guided it, after the snake threw it into the air. And thirdly she didn't save my ass, she merely ended the fight a bit sooner. Nothing more."

"Oh, Tsunade did you hear that?" Sakura looked at something behind Jirayia, who whirled around, an expression of horror on his face. It might have worked better if Sakura thought he wouldn't have noticed Tsunade sneaking up behind him. Still, it made her giggle, so she supposed he got what he wanted.

"What happens next?" She asked, when he turned around, a soft smile on his face.

He shrugged. "Well, she didn't say so, but I think chances are good she'll return to Konoha with us, even if you haven't managed to go toe to toe with her for three minutes." He looked at Sasuke. "At the very least she'll probably come back and heal Naruto. She owes you... or better Sasuke, that much."

Sakura looked at the sleeping boy again. He looked so peaceful in his sleep, not that she hadn't seen him toss and turn with nightmares as well, but he didn't have them that often. Not compared to her, with her own experiences so recent. His sleep actually gave her hope, since it meant she would get over it sooner or later. He had gone through way worse, and he somehow managed to get a few good nights of sleep each week.

"Get some rest. Either way we'll go back tomorrow." Jirayia winked at her and walked out of the room. Probably to talk some more to Tsunade.

Sakura nodded to herself and crawled under her blankets. Hopefully Tsunade agreed to become Hokage... though Jirayia wouldn't be that bad either. But as Hokage he couldn't write Icha Icha anymore. Which would be bad, very bad.

Soon she drifted off to sleep, dreams of discontinued books and fights with sannin dominating her thoughts.

-o-

Tsunade looked up, as Jirayia came down and sat down next to her. "She went to sleep?"

Shizune sat on her other side, engrossed in Jirayia's dirty book. One of these days Tsunade would have to read it. No matter how much she didn't want to give him the satisfaction of admitting they were any good.

"Yes. Still beating herself up over her performance." He admitted and order himself some sake.

"Well, she could have thought it through a bit more." Tsunade pointed out, only half amused. After all, if she hadn't managed to save Sasuke they would all have died, or worse.

"Of course, but she is still a genin. Can't really expect them to fight a jonin level opponent and make the best decisions." Jirayia defended his charge.

"Maybe so, but shouldn't we expect smart decisions from her?" She looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Ehehehe..." He chuckled uncomfortably. "I suppose so, but if it had worked... meh. As long as she learns from it." He finished lamely.

Nodding Tsunade took a sip from her own cup of sake. "Suppose that's the best we can hope for. Sasuke didn't do all that much better himself."

"And we didn't make any mistakes at all." Jirayia looked at his cup of sake pointedly.

She looked away. Maybe she had made some stupid mistakes as well.

"Let's agree that we all made some foolish mistakes today and let's not mention it again." Jirayia added.

Shrugging she nodded. She had no problems with that.

"Which brings us to my next question." Jirayia said. Behind her she could hear Shizune rustle her book, as she switched from reading it to hiding behind it, listening in. "Have you decided?"

She stared into her cup, not answering. Jirayia had returned to his own cup and Shizune to her book, but they couldn't fool her for a second. They were waiting for an answer, just giving her time to formulate it.

Did she want to return? Did she want to take on the mantle of Hokage? Even Sakura agreed that the position wouldn't be worth it. Sasuke didn't seem to care much, beyond the fact that the Hokage would be strong. Had to be strong. She swished the sake around in her cup. She wanted to return, of that she had no doubt. If for no other reason than to see Sasuke more. After her display today she somehow doubted they would go for the bet, their chances weren't all that high really. Even if she did hold back a bit.

So, she would return to Konoha. But could she shoulder the responsibilities of being the Hokage? Of deciding who would live and who would die?

She thought back to the battle, back to how it felt when Sasuke somehow, managed to survive. That feeling of elation she had when she saved him. Or when she switched places with Sakura, saved her, protected her. It had felt so good, so right. She had felt alive in a way she hadn't felt since Dan died. Much more so then when she gambled a bit of money. Combat wasn't a game, it couldn't ever be a game. But at the same time, she couldn't not enjoy succeeding at it.

A goofy grin spread over her face as she thought about the perks of being Hokage. Sure, she had some really soul-crushing responsibilities, but she also had perks! An entire village to order around, pretty boys to do her bidding! Money and good food, genin she could awe with her powers. Sasuke and the pink brat. Her eyes widened as she realized she could just order Sakura to do some rather unpleasant work, like muck the stables of some farm if she got uppity again.

The smile disappeared again. The question that remained was a simple one then. Could she take ordering people to their deaths, while she stayed behind and did nothing dangerous at all? Enjoying all those perks of the job?

Somebody had to do it. And if the village got attacked she would be on the front lines. And that wasn't counting the various ways she could improve the medical side of the village... how much had that atrophied without her there anyway? Her eyes widened. As Hokage she could just order the situation to improve. Something she had to fight tooth and nail for when she had just been a sannin.

Slowly she turned to Jirayia. "I'll do it. I'll become the Hokage." She could do it. No matter how many people she would lose. She would save so many more lives, it would be worth it.

He grinned at her and lifted his cup. "Well then, let's celebrate that decision then eh?" He winked at her.

She grinned right back. "Absolutely. More sake!"

"Ahhh. You shouldn't!" Shizune tried to stop them, but soon she found herself pacified with another bottle of sake just for her. Even Tonton got a small victory cup...

-o-

Naruto and the nine tails glared at each other. Ino hadn't shown up again yet, but it didn't bother him. It hadn't felt like more than a month or two yet anyway, so maybe a day outside? Whatever.

He had decided to spend his time her doing something useful. Like working on his chakra control, that had to be purely mental, right? Right. So even if he only improved a little bit in here he would improve. He just had to work hard on it.

But now he had a better idea. The fox had tricked him last time, but that didn't mean he had to let it happen again! Which meant he would have to learn how to draw on the fox's power without losing control over it.

Thus he and the fox glared at each other.

"If you puny insect think you can just take my power, you are sadly mistake." The fox growled at him.

And Naruto had no doubt that for once the fox didn't lie. He always had to ask and demand power from the fox. Just, as the last time he did that proved, it left him open to trickery from the damn thing. But if he could take the power from the fox, then the fox wouldn't have any control over it. And any sympathy he might have had for the thing had gone right out of the window after it tried to pull that crippling trick.

No more nice Naruto. He would show the damn fox who was the boss here.

Nodding to himself he took a deep breath. He couldn't just expect the fox to hand over his chakra though. And he quite frankly had no idea how he would go about taking the power anyway. He just had suspicions, like when he and Jirayia trained to access the power. There had been his chakra and that of the fox. They had been very distinctive and he could pull out both, though far less from the fox unless he asked him.

He closed his eyes and tried to feel his chakra. Usually the boredom that came with this kind of meditation had prevented him from taking it seriously. After what felt like a year of being bored meditation actually had become something he could enjoy. He accepted the boredom and channeled it into something productive. A small frown stole itself on his face. Actually while he meditated he had felt as if his chakra control truly increased. He banished the thought and instead focused on searching for the chakra the fox radiated.

Easy enough to find, really. Now then, on to the real question. How could he take that chakra? It had to be connected to himself. And the fox couldn't have severed the connection, otherwise he wouldn't have a way to heal Naruto.

Likewise he couldn't have destroyed Naruto's inner coil system. That would have killed Naruto and the fox. So he should still be able to feel his own chakra, and that of the fox. And not just that which his mind made him think he had... he groaned as he imagined the various layers of meaning behind all that. How could anybody remember all that stuff.

With some effort he calmed himself again. He had to concentrate or he wouldn't make any progress.

The fox grumbled something, but Naruto tuned him out. Another advantage of meditation.

Slowly he could feel the world fade away, until only his own heartbeat remained. And within the heartbeat he could feel his chakra. Much, much stronger than anything he felt normally here. He fought to keep his mind blank and wrestled with the chakra, forcing it under his control. It resisted and he realized just how much control he still lacked. He bet Sakura could have tamed this tempest in a matter of seconds. For him it took hours, or what seemed like hours at least. Outside of his body it took mere seconds.

In here though he had to fight hard and long to tame the raging storm into a calm river, carrying the water where he wanted it to flow. Of course, he didn't want the water to flow anywhere, he just wanted to watch it closely.

After the chakra had calmed down, he watched the river searching for the chakra the fox had to feed him constantly. And sure enough, every now and again he saw a small sliver of red in the blue water. Kinda like blood, dissolving.

He grabbed one such strand and immediately he lost control of the river, as pain shot through his entire body. Not a lot, but enough to shake his concentration and rip the fragile control he had managed to gain over the river asunder.

He growled in frustration and anger, before he managed to calm himself down again. Had it been his own anger at the failure? Or had that been the influence of the fox?

It didn't matter, in either case he would have to control himself better.

Once again he entered his meditation. No matter how long it took, he would master this. Not as if he had anything else to do anyway.

-o-

Libido watched as Teamwork grumbled and kicked the earth around her. She had fought a few Itachis earlier this day, but had utterly failed to archive anything.

She had flailed around uncoordinated, missed several of her swings and had barely been able to block other hits.

It reminded him of that day right after his greatest victory. The day he had been trounced so severely. He had told her that bad days happened, that she shouldn't take it too much to heart, but she had opted to pout and grumble instead. He hoped she would recover soon. She still was their strongest fighter. Off day or not.

Family on the other hand had grown stronger again, he heard her mutter something in her sleep. Nothing he could make out, but she had muttered something.

Teamwork stood beside him in a flash. "So she is recovering." She whispered, almost reverently.

Libido also noticed that Family had changed a bit too, her black hair had slowly gotten lighter. It looked like a deep brown now, but it still seemed likely that it would change even further.

He frowned at Teamwork. "Why does she change?" He asked.

She shrugged. "We all change, you aren't the little brat you were a few weeks ago anymore either."

He looked himself over and had to agree. Sure, he still looked kinda like a kid, but he had muscles now and not a few of them. He looked healthy, strong, quite good really.

"I suppose, but what does it mean?" He looked at her imploringly. She knew a lot about the world after all.

She frowned at the still form of family. "It might mean things will get better soon... or far worse." She turned around and walked out of the cave they hid in. "I'll go get some food, somehow I think family might need more of it."

Libido watched her go. She hadn't given him any answer at all, just like usual. "Why do I even bother with her? Women!" He sighed and turned back to family.

-o-

Sasuke noticed the arm slung over his chest first. A second later he became aware of the weight on his chest. Slowly he opened his eyes and the expected sight of Sakura's head resting on his chest greeted him. He frowned lightly. What did she do in his bed? Carefully he tested his arms and legs, moving them ever so slightly, ignoring the girl on top of him for now.

A few seconds later he smiled in satisfaction, Tsunade or Shizune had done perfect work, he didn't feel anything from the cuts Kabuto had given him. Which shifted his attention back to Sakura.

She had obviously gone to sleep right on top of him. He could only ask himself one question though. Why had Jirayia... no, why had Tsunade allowed it? Surely she would have checked up on him? He looked at Jirayia's bed... which turned out to be empty. His eyes widened as his mind tortured him with horrible, horrible images. "No way." He shook his head. "There's just no way..."

Carefully he shoved Sakura off of him. If she slept on him without asking she couldn't complain when he woke her up. But she just slept through his shoves. He glared at her. She should wake up from something like that. Ninja weren't supposed to sleep through anything unexpected happening.

"Another five minutes Suske..." She whispered in her sleep. So maybe she had been aware and dismissed it as him waking up... "Wake up." He said, maybe a bit harsher than he really intended.

She twitched once, before she claimed the room he had just vacated. "Hmm..." She sighed and snuggled deeper into the mattress. He grumbled as he left the room, or he tried to. With a snort he walked down the stairs. She shouldn't be allowed to look so adorable in her sleep.

Just before he reached the bottom of the stairs he closed his eyes. Jirayia and Tsunade had to be there. Either of them or maybe even both. Better there together than somewhere else together. Like a bed... no! Bad brain! No bringing up images! He opened his eyes again and found Jirayia slumping over one table silently holding his head, probably recovering from a hangover.

Sasuke let out a breath he hadn't noticed holding. Jirayia had probably celebrated last night and had woken up early with a hangover. Much better than what Sasuke's brain had come up with.

"Morning." He greeted the older man, who blearily looked up.

Then a pain-wracked grin spread over his face. "I see you are awake, did you enjoy the surprise?"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "Did you put Sakura in my bed?" He asked, growling dangerously.

Jirayia quickly shook his head. "No, no. I didn't. Just noticed her with you when I came up." He sighed. "She went to sleep in her own bed, before I went down yesterday." He didn't say anything else.

Sasuke nodded slowly. He knew she had nightmares, probably woke her up and she decided to use him as a security blanket. He didn't know how to feel about that, but it didn't seem all that bad, really.

"Food?" He asked the older man and now that he acknowledged it, he registered the void in his stomach, though maybe yawning maw of the abyss would be a more fitting description. This felt worse, far worse than that time in Wave, he could have forced himself to go on for another day or so without food. Now though...

Jirayia shoved a half eaten bowl of rice over to him. "I'm not all that hung..."

He stared as Sasuke looked down at the empty bowl, then at him. Hunger shining brightly in his eyes. "More." Sasuke demanded.

Slowly Jirayia nodded. "Of course, you did sustain some serious wounds yesterday." He quickly backed off and ordered more food. Sasuke wondered if it would be enough?

Ten minutes and many bowls of rice later Tsunade stumbled her way down the stairs, bloodshot eyes greeted them and she groaned. "Ugh, you two are up already?"

Sasuke didn't dignify that with an response. "Heh, and good morning to you too sunshine." She smirked and ruffled his hair. He narrowed his eyes angrily, but decided to let it slide. Protesting would take time away from his food and she had earned herself that right when she saved his life and Sakura.

Tsunade chuckled and grabbed herself a bowl and some juice. "Once you're done stuffing yourself let me have another look at you." She ordered. "Just to make sure I didn't miss anything yesterday and that no complications happened."

He shrugged, he felt fine.

Tsunade watched him carefully as she slowly emptied her own bowl. "Not very talkative are you?" She asked amused.

"Hungry." He quickly shot out and turned back to his food.

"Yes, hungry." Sakura echoed him. "But I think one or two bowls will be enough for me." She conceded as she sat down beside him. "And... uh, sorry about... you know..." She blushed quite prettily.

Sasuke rolled his eyes, as if she really felt all that bad. "Ask next time." He grumbled, finally over the worst of it.

She nodded as she stuffed her own face.

"Do I want to know?" Tsunade asked. Jirayia wisely kept his mouth shut.

"Eh, not really." Sasuke answered.

"Hmm if you say so." She looked at both Sasuke and Sakura. "I'm sure you'll be happy to hear that I'll come back with you as well. I've decided that the best way to make sure you two don't get killed is by becoming Hokage." Sasuke paused, the meat between his chopsticks falling back into his bowl.

Sakura mirrored him, though in her case she just forgot to chew. "Wha?" He asked eloquently.

"I'm going to be the next Hokage." Tsunade repeated amused. "Which means you two brats will have to be a lot more respectful." She gave Sakura an evil eye.

Sakura quickly swallowed and glared right back. "Oh? Is that so?" She challenged Tsunade. "Why should I respect somebody who took the job even knowing how much it sucks?" She crossed her arms over her chest. Sasuke buried his face in his hand. What about Tsunade made Sakura lose all of her brains that she always felt so proud about?

"Because somebody has to do it. And it's not as if I don't get certain perks with the job." Tsunade replied almost instantly.

A grin spread over Sakura's face. "True enough. Hokage-Sama." She saluted quickly, before she slouched back in her chair and returned to eat breakfast. "Kinda disappointed about not fighting you though."

"We can still have the duel if you want to." Tsunade offered, showing a row of blinking white teeth.

Sakura shivered under the smile. "Not that disappointed." She laughed weakly and practically buried her face in her bowl. Tsunade just nodded once and turned back to Jirayia. "Once Shizune is up and we all had an opportunity to freshen up we'll get going. Unless you have something else to do?"

He shook his head. "I'm fine, nearly sobered up as well."

"Bwee..." Tonton groaned as she trotted up to Tsunade, who picked the pig up and petted it slightly.

"Maybe we shouldn't have included you in our celebration eh Tonton?" She asked. The pig shot her a glare but Tsunade quickly mollified it by feeding it some choice morsels.

Sasuke meanwhile stared at the little black piglet creeping along the back wall, always out of sight of Tonton, a look of stark horror on it's face. He raised an eyebrow at the weird sight. As soon as it reached the door it tore off, it's entire posture screaming relief.

Sasuke shook his head. He probably didn't want to know.

-o-

"Another test?" Temari asked as she stared at the paper in front of her, an order this time, nothing she had to decide.

"Sure looks like it." Kankuro nodded. "Retrieving Gaara and negotiating peace with Konoha are rather important." He stared at the paper as if it would turn into a snake at the least provocation.

"You don't like it though?" She asked him.

"It's too important. Nothing against you sis, but to send a novice to have this kind of negotiations? What are they thinking?" He grabbed the paper and began reading it in earnest.

"Probably that with their own work and those scrolls I can't screw up much." She pointed out the relevant sections of the paper.

Kankuro gave a sigh of relieve. "Makes more sense yes." He frowned at her. "So, who's your guard? Me and Baki?"

She shook her head. "Just you. Baki is still busy drilling the new recruits. We need as many as we can."

He stared out of the window, watching the blue sky outside. "We are falling even further behind as far as quality is concerned. Konoha has such an overwhelming advantage there..."

"Which is why we need at least numbers. We can't just create elites out of nothing. We'll have to make do with average." "Below average." "Not that much, it's workable. And once they have a few missions under their belt they will be at average if not above." Temari glared at her brother. He shrugged. "Maybe. Anyway, there's something else I want to talk to you about. Gaara."

She nodded and looked down at the order again, turning it around so she could read it again. "We need him back."

He nodded. "But what then? He's dangerous, we all know that."

"He doesn't have to be. You saw their Jinchuriku." She didn't look up.

Kankuro had stepped away from the desk. "I... I know. But Gaara didn't grow up like that. Father wanted his weapon and he got his weapon."

She nodded sadly. "I know, but maybe it's not too late. Maybe we can salvage him." And she didn't like how that sounded, like she considered him a tool, nothing more.

"I wouldn't hold my breath." He grumbled. "It's not just father you know? It's also the seal. That didn't help either."

She nodded. "Well... since we want to tighten our ties with Konoha. We could probably ask them for a seal that helps Gaara suppress Shukaku better?"

"And you would actually trust them after the invasion?" He looked at her, an eyebrow raised in disbelieve.

"Of course not. Not now at least, but maybe a seal that suppresses Shukaku totally. I can believe them giving us Gaara back with that." She looked at him.

He considered it for a few seconds. "Totally useless to us, yes I can see that happening. Of course, then he won't be any good for us either." He barely managed to dodge her fist. "He's still our brother, no matter what father and Shukaku did to him."

He avoided her glare by looking out the window. "I suppose. But face the facts as soon as Shukaku is sealed up Gaara is little more than a civilian, he's not all that good without Shukaku."

She took a deep breath. "I know, I know. We'll have to work on that. Once he's back. Once we've managed to gain his trust."

Kankuro snorted. "You say that as if it's easy. Just snap your fingers and he trusts you. That will take months of hard work. He's not somebody to just trust a person."

-o-

Ino giggled as she looked at Gaara, who smiled back from his position on the floor. He didn't understand why she giggled, but she did and really that's all he needed.

He sat shirtless in a circle of weird lines. Apparently Konoha had decided to add to his seal, before they handed him back to Sand. And while he didn't trust most of them very much. He trusted Ino, when she told him about it.

A voice in the back of his mind protested loudly, but he squashed it easily. She had no reason to betray him, none at all. She already had him captured. She already could kill him at any time she wished.

The only reason for her to do anything like this was to help him, because she liked him.

"Now remember. This seal isn't really all that strong. We have some people who are good with seals, but our best aren't currently in the village. That doesn't matter much though. This seal is just to keep Shukaku down, which means you can't access most of his abilities. No more moving sand for you, no more sand armor for you. Unless you break the seal. If you really need to you can." She explained as the other seal experts worked around him.

He honestly didn't know why Konoha went to all that trouble for him. They certainly didn't need to. Though he supposed him not having ready access to Shukaku did give them an advantage in itself, should Sand decide to attack again. And since their real expert apparently wasn't available they had to make do with a seal like this.

"What if your expert comes back before I have to go back?" He asked.

Ino shrugged. "Then he'll probably apply a seal that's harder to break." She admitted without hesitation. He couldn't forget that her village came before him, even now.

"I... see." He inclined his head. He didn't know what to think. He didn't want Shukaku whispering in his head. On the other hand, he wanted, no needed the protection the sand offered him.

He watched Ino, as she walked around the are and observed the workers preparing the seal.

He hoped he could stay just a little bit longer with her, just catch some sleep for a little while longer.

-o-

If somebody had asked him to describe the atmosphere on the trip back to Konoha, Sasuke would have been forced to admit that he found it pleasant. Though relieved, or hopeful might fit better. Whatever he would call it though he enjoyed it. He even didn't bother suppressing a genuine smile every now and again.

Sakura had apparently decided that Tsunade was just a bigger and badder Anko and acted as such. Insults flew between the two and Tsunade often hunted Sakura through the forest, in what she called training exercises, when Sakura managed to go a bit too far. Though Sasuke suspected both knew just when that point had been reached. In any case, the insults were aimed at Tsunade's looks and age, nothing she seemed really all that concerned with.

Sasuke watched their antics and kept mostly to himself. He could have joined the training efforts, but the trip back wouldn't take long enough to produce real results, the journey to Tsunade certainly hadn't had any results that could be measured and he had a lot on his mind.

For example what to do once they returned to Konoha. He still needed to get stronger, his recent battles had proven that. They had also shown him that Orochimaru didn't have anything to offer him. He still remembered the mans promise for power, but after the failures of his seal and his own poor performance against Jirayia and Tsunade, who once again proved the point about teamwork, Sasuke had no desire to seek the man out. All he could offer were quick boosts to his power, in a trade off against control.

And against Itachi he needed control, more than anything he needed to be in charge of himself. He would need to keep himself under control, to plan ahead and outsmart Itachi, instead of a futile attempt to overpower him. Sure that could work, but not in the near future. Even if he improved himself enough in a year to surpass Itachi now and he seriously doubted the feasibility of that plan, Itachi wouldn't stand still, he would have moved on.

He looked around, Jirayia scribbled something in his notebook, Shizune neared the end of her new Icha Icha, Tsunade and Sakura were off in the surrounding woods, training and Tonton trotted along doing whatever pigs did in the forest.

So, he had to find a way to become stronger, which shouldn't be too hard really. Konoha had some of the strongest ninja of all the hidden villages. Though at least two had defected.

He felt the familiar rage come up when he thought about Itachi and squashed it, before it could rise fully. He needed to concentrate.

Jirayia could offer him quite a bit of power. That toad summoning in combination with Sasuke's own fire would open up quite a few possibility.

For a brief moment he stood on top of the toad, sneering down at Itachi, who could only gaze back in consternation as the massive wall of fire bore down on him.

Sasuke smirked in satisfaction at the mental image.

Then it shifted, revealing that Itachi had somehow moved behind Sasuke and slammed a kunai into his unprotected back. "Still too little hatred." The imagined Itachi hissed angrily.

Sasuke shook his head, clearing the image. Yeah, that wouldn't go all that well.

Maybe the seals? That might also be promising, with the right seals he could negate Itachi's black fire. Have them prepared in advance and they would suck the fire away from Sasuke, leaving him open to attack the surprised Itachi. He frowned to himself. There had to be offensive seals as well, Jirayia simply hadn't used any yet.

He looked at the man, seemingly engrossed in his little book. Certainly a possible source of power, he would have to ask Jirayia about that.

His eyes wandered on, locking onto the patch of forest Sakura's pleas for mercy could be heard from. Apparently Tsunade had decided to end the training and captured Sakura for her daily dose of humility. He still didn't know what they did there, maybe he would need to join the training just for a chance to see it? Visions of Tsunade spanking Sakura glittered through his head. He could see Jirayia scribble more frantic.

He quickly chased the visions away. "Focus." He told himself.

So, power and where to get it. The other source for power available would be Tsunade. The woman who somehow had used a gigantic sword, a hundred times as big as herself to nail a snake just as big to the ground.

If that didn't describe power he didn't know what would. Of course, Itachi would be a little bit harder to hit with a giant sword, than a giant snake.

Still, even one hit with the strength to do that would... could be fatal. Sasuke simply had to hit him, which would be easier said than done, since he still would be so much faster and better than Sasuke. He frowned in annoyance. So directly overpowering Itachi would be out. He had realized that already. What else could Tsunade offer him? Chakra scalpels for one thing. He lost himself in another daydream.

-o-

Sasuke glared at Itachi as the older man held him by his throat. "Still not enough hatred." He sighed, ignoring the feeble hand weakly pushing at his chest.

Sasuke opened and closed his mouth, before he let the hand fall down Itachi's chest and the arm holding him slackened and he had to struggle to remain upright.

Itachi for his part stared at him with wide eyes, coughing blood as his destroyed lungs tried to pump the liquid out again.

Sasuke didn't give the other time to recover and lashed out with his chakra scalpels, cutting the muscles in Itachi's arms and legs.

Itachi couldn't even call him a coward or a failure, while he drowned on his own blood, so Sasuke simply watched as the light left his eyes.

-o-

He noticed that Shizune slowly edged away from him, so he stopped giggling like that. He had noticed just how wrong that had sounded.

Still, while he realized that this version of events seemed much more plausible, even then it relied on Itachi arrogantly assuming Sasuke couldn't touch him. Which honestly wasn't that bad a bet.

His older brother had a lot of reasons to think so.

What else could he learn from Tsunade? Healing of course, like what Kabuto did to himself. Sasuke hadn't seen much of that, but somehow the boy had recovered from having his chest pulped by Tsunade. And if that hadn't been an impressive and useful trick, no skill, Sasuke didn't know impressive and useful.

He could just see Tsunade having an even better version of that technique. And that didn't even go into him being able to save the lives of people dear to him. Say, Sakura had gotten hit by a kunai. Sasuke as he was now couldn't do much about it. He couldn't be everywhere, he couldn't protect her every time a dangerous situation arose. And she would resent him if he tried to anyway. No matter how foolish that would be.

But what if he could just come, pull the kunai out and close the wound? He didn't imagine himself coming home that day, kicking Itachi away and healing his parents from the wounds they had taken. He didn't, he didn't, he didn't...

The images didn't show up again. He hadn't even been a genin back then. He probably wouldn't have the control needed anyway.

Which was just the first argument against that choice. He would need better chakra control. Even as skilled as he was, Sakura was way better than him.

Also, it went against every tradition in the Uchiha Clan. There were no medic nin in the clan, only fighters. For all the good that did the clan.

He frowned at the last thought and decided to see where else he could gain power.

Which left pretty much just Kakashi. No doubt about it, the man seemed like his best option. Not quite as strong as the Sannin, he still had his sharingan. The only one who had it and would be willing to teach Sasuke. And Sasuke felt very sure that Kakashi hadn't taught him everything he could teach.

Very prominent amongst those things the full use of the sharingan. After all, Sasuke hadn't really explored the full possibilities of his eyes. Especially not those...

He glared at the ground. And he wouldn't use those, he wouldn't let Itachi win. And if he did what he needed to do to gain those techniques Itachi would win. He wouldn't, couldn't let that happen. He worked too hard to save Naruto or Sakura to do that. Yeah, fuck Itachi, and fuck those techniques.

So, Kakashi would have to teach him how to use the eyes as well as possible in their current state, maybe the dog summonings? Itachi might not expect them, but better to not rely on Itachi's mistakes, he didn't make that many.

"Hmm you are quiet, I mean even more so than usual." Jirayia interrupted his train of thought.

"Thinking." He muttered as a reply.

"Brooding you mean." Jirayia countered amused.

Sasuke glared at the older man. "I'm thinking, not brooding." Annoying bastard.

Jirayia raised an eyebrow. "So you are telling me you aren't focusing on the past on how painful it was?"

Sasuke's glare intensified, how dare he... with an effort of will he forced himself to calm down. Jirayia watched him calmly, waiting for the explosion. He wouldn't get one.

"Yes, I'm focusing on the future, and what I have to do to beat Itachi, nothing else." He narrowed his eyes at the older man, daring him to say something along the lines of that being the same.

"So, any idea how you can reach that goal?" Jirayia asked instead.

Sasuke waited a few seconds before he nodded. "I think so, there are some possibilities at least."

Slowly Jirayia nodded. "That's good to hear. Here's a hint for the planning stage. Don't focus on Itachi being as strong as he is. Focus on you beating him, no matter how strong he is, or how long it will take. You can beat him, never let anybody tell you anything else."

Sasuke looked at Jirayia, that's what he always was doing. But Jirayia had apparently filled his quota of nonsense and meandered off to talk to Shizune, who blushed as she took another one of his books, carefully stashing it in one of her pockets.

Sasuke snorted, as if he focused on Itachi's strength... he didn't... really... and so what if he did? Itachi had proven again and again that he was nearly unbeatable. Though Jirayia had managed to drive him off. Without doing anything to Sasuke even.

So Itachi could be beaten. Sasuke took a deep breath and repeated it. Itachi could be beaten.

Why the hell did that sound so weird? Why the hell didn't he believe that himself?

Maybe Jirayia had been right, maybe he needed to focus on that first, he needed to believe that Itachi could be beaten first, before he could actually hope to defeat Itachi.

Itachi could be beaten!

-o-

Naruto calmly opened his eyes and looked at the fox, who had started gnawing at the iron rods, separating him from Naruto, after it had become clear that his paws couldn't reach the boy.

A thick red line of chakra connected the fox and Naruto. Through the connection the chakra of the fox slowly trickled into Naruto and manifested itself as a red coat all around him.

"I'll kill you brat. Once I'm out of this cage you'll pay for stealing my power." The fox howled at Naruto.

Naruto wanted to cock his head to the side and ask the fox how he planned to do that, but just holding on to the chakra took a lot of concentration, and he really didn't have any to spare. He couldn't fight like this. If he did that in real life, outside his head, he would need as much focus just to hold the chakra without burning himself to ash as he needed on the fight itself.

He whimpered silently as the rage of the fox fanned the chakra into a tempest. Keeping that under control would prove nearly impossible. Unless he got a lot better at this than...

"Naruto! Is everything alright?" Ino's voice screeched through the dungeon. Breaking Naruto's fragile control over the chakra. He watched the red line snap back into the fox with dismay and a little relief. He had worried the fox would influence him, but apparently he didn't have to worry about that if he took the power from the fox.

He slumped to the ground. This had been the first time something had actually exhausted him here!

"Naruto? Where are you?" He heard Ino shout again, she sounded worried. But Naruto just couldn't respond yet.

"I'll flay you alive you little monkey! You'll rue the day your whore of a mother spread her legs for your father." He felt his left eye twitch at the insults. And slowly pushed himself up again.

"Naruto? What the hell was that?" Ino asked, panic evident in her voice, he could hear the splashes her feet made as she ran around.

He stepped closer to the cage. In the back of his mind he could feel his own chakra, raging every bit as wildly as the fox's.

"I'll enjoy breaking every little one of your.."

"Shut up." Naruto ordered the stupid fox, who totally ignored him.

"...bones and ripping the skin off your flesh, little strip for little strip. Your suffering will be legendary! And I'll enjoy breaking those bitches who offered themselves to you, one by one..."

"Naruto? Come on answer me!" Ino's steps were closer now, nearly on them even. Her voice sounded really panicky though.

"I said, Shut! Up!" Naruto shouted at the fox, who actually paused for a second, before he sneered and went right on raving against Naruto.

"I'll never shut up until I've got my revenge insect. You can't do anymuph..." Naruto blinked as the fox suddenly had sock stuffed in his mouth.

"And be glad I didn't use soap to wash that mouth out mister!" Ino glared at the fox.

Before she switched targets to Naruto. "Why didn't you shut him up? This is your mind you know? It shouldn't be that much of a problem. Well, as long as he's behind that seal." She leaned forward, to get a good look at the fox, who glared at her furiously, his paw slamming through the seal, in an attempt to flatten Ino, but the girl just snorted and watched the paw come far too short.

"I... didn't know I could do that." Naruto admitted.

"Well, I suppose I would know more about this sort of thing than you." Ino agreed and immediately switched tracks, her panic from earlier returning. "But what happened? The medic said he could feel the chakra from the fox again. Not that you showed any of it. But he said there was some kind of pressure in your body, as if the fox was trying to break free."

Naruto rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "Err... that would have been me. I... kinda tried to take power from the fox. You know, do something useful while I'm here."

She gaped at him her left eye twitching dangerously. "You what?" She whispered.

"I... uhh... took some of the demon chakra for myself? I didn't try to use it, just... you know get it..." He chuckled weakly.

It didn't help though, as her fist crashed down on his head. "Don't do something as dangerous as that again! What if you had lost control? What if it made your condition worse? What would poor Hinata do?" Ino screeched at him, flailing ineffectual against his head. Not that he didn't feel it, but it didn't really hurt. He wondered if Ino could hurt him...

"You'll die the slowest, most painful, most humiliating way I can possibly come up with." A silken voice spoke up behind them.

Ino immediately stopped her flailing, instead she stared at the fox, who had somehow removed the sock.

"His death will be legendary. You death will be so horrible nobody dares to remember." He added, eerily calm, not the slightest trace of killing intent present.

He hadn't even noticed when Ino stepped up to him and started hugging him. He looked at his hands, oh wait, he had started hugging Ino. They gulped, as the fox smiled at them, showing nearly no teeth at all. "Pray to whatever deities you believe in, that I never make it out of this prison while you are still alive. Because if I do..." He turned around, disappearing in the shadows of his cell. Only the glowing red eyes could be seen anymore.

"Let's get away from here, ok?" Ino whispered, clearly spooked by the reaction. Naruto only nodded. He would have words with the fox, but maybe later, when he had calmed down a bit... probably much later.

Only after they had gone a good distance did Ino stop. She fell to her knees almost immediately. Naruto only remained standing because he didn't remember how to buckle his knees.

"That... that was..." Ino started.

Naruto nodded. "Yeah... damn, I didn't know he could be that terrifying."

"You realize why you'll have to stop what you are doing right?" She looked up to him and he grimaced. He didn't look forward to challenging the fox again. But he wouldn't beg for power and certainly not for forgiveness. Especially not for what Ino did... especially since it had been extremely funny.

"Actually now I really have to do it again. I will need that power again, right? I need to learn to use it... without giving him the chance to interfere."

Ino stared at him with wide eyes. "Are you insane? You saw what he was like!"

He nodded. "After you stuffed a sock into his mouth... very funny by the way." He tried to grin at her, but the recent experience made it a bit difficult.

"Well... he was... distracting. And he shouldn't have been able to talk anymore. Certainly not been able to just remove it." She hit the water in frustration.

"You did that before?"

"Yeah, against Shukaku. Worked perfectly against him." She grumbled.

Naruto shrugged. "Well, he's the nine tail. Obviously he's stronger than the one tail, right?"

"I suppose... the seal was different too... maybe that's important?" She considered the idea a bit. Naruto for his part just felt glad the fox was behind the seal... he wouldn't enjoy the fox breaking out, at all.

"Maybe." Ino conceded. She pushed herself up. "So you'll continue to try this?" She seemed to be pleading with him.

He turned around, spreading his arms. "It's something to do. It's better than anything else I can do here. And I need to control that power. I mean what if I go up against Gaara again? I can't just rely on the fox to give me the power again. I'll just end up here again... or worse."

He had a lot of time to think about this. Far too much time really.

Ino shivered. "I... guess." She quickly hugged him again. "Just be careful ok?"

"I'll be careful." He looked into the direction of the fox. "In fact, I think I'll let him cool down a bit before I try again." That cold rage the fox displayed earlier scared him so much more than the hotheaded ravings had.

Ino nodded, smiling brilliantly. "You do that. And don't be rash!"

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Yes mother." A fist to the head rewarded him for that remark. Not that he really felt the fist.

"I'll see you soon. You'll see, Sakura and Sasuke will be back soon."

He smiled at her as she disappeared, hopefully she was right. He wanted to get out of her. Enjoy the sun and the wind. See something beside the drab walls and the water.

-o-

Tsunade couldn't help the smile that spread out as she looked out over Konoha. They had arrived yesterday, entering the village with a minimum of fuss. Sakura and Sasuke had immediately left, citing the need to see if their teammate had improved any.

From what Jirayia had told her he wouldn't have, but if the kids wanted to see him? Why deny them the chance?

Sasuke had turned back and looked at her strangely. A weird little frown on his face. Geez the kid was cute in that overly serious way. And over the trip back he had opened up to her a little bit. Not much, just as she hadn't really told him all that much about herself, but just enough to get to know each other better. And to understand just how similar they were in many ways.

Sasuke might not have lost a lover, but he had lost all his family. Even if Tsunade only lost her brother, since he had been the last of her family... Sasuke could understand perfectly. And after a quick glance at Sakura and another of those weird, thoughtful and cute, frowns of his he nodded slowly. "I think I get what you mean." He had said.

She doubted it, either him nor Sakura could really be called lovers. They were flirting, sure. But they both had no idea how to proceed after that, yet and they were a bit too young anyway. Maybe in two or three years. Tsunade shook her head, how fast they grow up.

Which shifted her thoughts to Sakura. Beating her around the clearing had been very therapeutic. Maybe that's what having a little sister felt like? A little annoying half pint thinking much higher of herself than she really should?

Still fun though and Tsunade would need every bit of fun she could get, now that she had agreed to the job. She could already feel the responsibility pressing on her shoulder. Threatening to crush her into dust. A smirk spread over her lips and slowly she pushed herself up. She wouldn't buckle under the stress though. This would be a challenge, nothing more. A challenge she intended to win.

Shizune stepped up beside her. "Well... Hokage-sama?" She asked smiling.

"Heh, Hokage-sama. I like it... and did you see the clerks out front? Hehe... at least the eye candy isn't bad here." Tsunade chuckled. She would have to enjoy every perk she could to not be crushed under this position. A quick glance at the bookshelf on the wall had revealed that the third certainly had.

"Tsunade-sama." Shizune shook her head... before she smiled and nodded. "They are cute."

"Hehe, maybe you'll find somebody for yourself then? Eh?" Tsunade winked at her apprentice and flopped herself into the chair behind her desk. Shizune had given up quite a few things to accompany her after all.

Shizune raised an eyebrow at Tsunade. "I honestly doubt it. You'll just make me look after you in one village, instead of several."

Tsunade shrugged and quickly went over the stacks of paper on the desk. The council had done most of the work after the Third had died, only that which absolutely needed her permission remained. She quickly sorted the papers into those she had to deal with immediately and those that still had time.

With a sigh of relief she noted that only very little remained on the immediate side. "Well, whatever else you can say about those old codgers, they do good work behind a desk." Jirayia sauntered in. "Once you've done with settling in, can you take a look at Naruto?" He asked, even though he knew she would do just that. She raised an eyebrow at him.

"He's... well not awake, but aware. Inside his mind I mean." Jirayia explained and Tsunade winced. She had heard about that, and from what she heard it could drive people mad. With no outside contact they slowly, ever so slowly lost their connection to the world, lost themselves.

She frowned at the papers, she could just leave them here...

"Don't worry, a few more hours won't make a difference." Jirayia quickly pointed out. "Ino Yamanaka has made contact with him a few times already. He's fine for now, but... I want to get him out of there."

Aww, worried about the kid was he? "I see. Don't worry, as soon as this is done I'll join you." She looked down at the first paper. A request to seal up Shukaku for good, before they send him back to Suna. She frowned, what did the people proposing this want? Peace, or another war with Suna as soon as they recovered and saw the slighted chance to win against Konoha?

Oh, here's your Jinchuriku back, but we essentially crippled him!

Yes, that would go over well.

She came here just in time it seemed.

-o-

Naruto opened his eyes and groaned in frustration. As soon as he did so his control over the evil chakra slipped again.

It actually felt as if he had gotten worse controlling it instead of better!

He glared at the fox, silently gloating behind the bars. Somehow he made it more difficult, Naruto just knew it! Still he could either see that as something bad, or something he had to overcome! And it would be good training anyway.

He closed his eyes again and went back to controlling the chakra again. He could take a little bit more of it now, but if he did so, his control would slip even faster. If he took less he had a bit more control, but that still remained tenuous at best. Stupid Fox.

He frowned, he could hear voices... did they get louder? He had thought he heard something before, a while ago, but he could never be sure, if what he heard were actual voices or just his imagination. And even if he were sure, most of the time he couldn't understand them anyway.

He frowned as he noticed soft hands on his face. Gently they withdrew.

He opened his eyes in confusion, when had he laid down?

Instead of the drab gray walls of the sewer the white walls of a hospital room greeted him. He blinked and drew back slightly against the sudden light.

"Naruto!" Two voices screamed out and suddenly he felt two lumps against his chest. Looking down he could make out a pink and a black mop of hair. "Uhh... Sakura? Hinata?" He asked weakly.

"Don't scare me like that again idiot!" Sakura muttered into his chest.

"Naruto." Hinata added, looking up at him imploringly, tears streaming down her face.

Naruto, still disoriented looked around. Sasuke stood back, smirking at him, beside him Ino stood, clearly as amused as Sasuke.

Jirayia shook his head and muttered something about the unfairness of it all, then there was a weird woman he didn't know, who smiled at him.

"Well, how do you feel?" The woman asked as she stepped up beside him.

"Uhh... kinda weird honestly." He took stock of his body. He didn't feel any pain, but he certainly didn't feel all that good either... kinda weak.

The woman simply nodded. "You've been out for a while, that will do it. You'll need to work hard to go back to your old level." She laid her hands on his head and shushed Sakura and Hinata away as her hands wandered down, a weird green glow on them. It didn't feel bad though. "But it shouldn't take too long to recover. You seem very healthy and with your teammates pushing you, I'm sure you'll be back on your feet in no time."

"Yes, we'll make sure he gets a lot of exercise." Sakura nodded eagerly. "You'll help right Hinata?"

Hinata nodded seriously, before she reattached herself to Naruto's torso. "Yes."

Naruto blushed at the contact, the other women in the room just smiled and cooed. Sasuke sneered... not? He smiled softly...

"Ahh who are you and what have you done to Sasuke?" Naruto screamed and pointed at the boy. With the arm not occupied by Hinata. He kinda liked her where she was...

Immediately the smile disappeared, replaced with the expected sneer. "What do you mean?" Sasuke asked, eyes narrowed in anger.

Naruto let out a sigh of relief. "Nothing bastard, nothing. Just though I saw something weird."

A quick nod, accepted the explanation easily enough.

"Well, we'll leave you alone now. The other medics can take care of you for now. I have a lot of stuff I have to do." The woman grabbed Jirayia and dragged him from the room.

Sasuke watched her as she left, he looked kinda weird. Naruto wondered what the hell was going on.

"Hey Naruto. Wanna know what we did to get Tsunade back here?" Sakura asked quickly.

He looked at her, and nodded eagerly. Of course he would. He looked down at Hinata, still crying into his shirt. In fact, Sakura kinda looked as if she wanted to cry as well. Only Ino didn't look like that, but she had already talked to him, so that explained that.

"Well, first we went out of the village, with a shadow clone henged like you. Cause there are some people who are after you..." She glanced at Sasuke who shrugged.

"We met some of those people on the way to Tsunade..."

-o-

Kabuto looked at Orochimaru as he glared at his arms. "We don't have much more time." Orochimaru growled.

Kabuto nodded and immediately regretted it. The punishment for almost killing Sasuke had been... harsh. But Orochimaru hadn't been foolish enough to kill him outright. He still needed him after all.

"Tell the four to get ready. We need Sasuke here. I won't be denied my prize."

Kabuto smiled and nodded. It seemed as if Orochimaru had given up on seducing Sasuke. "They will be ready to go in a few hours." He promised.

"Oh and tell them not to damage the body too much. It won't be of any use to me if it's too broken." Orochimaru smiled widely. "Not that they can't play rough of course. Sasuke... deserves it for being so weak. He's been quite the disappointment."

Kabuto nodded, though he didn't quite agree. That Sasuke even survived all those attacks he had taken, made Kabuto's opinion of him rise quite a bit.

"I'll make sure to mention that." He bowed and left the room. Maybe he should send Kimimaru with the four? They were very likely to meet heavy resistance after all...

-o-

Sasuke took a deep breath as he knocked on the door to the Hokage's office.

"Come in." Tsunade's voice answered.

He opened the door and walked in. As soon as Tsunade saw him she smiled. "Sasuke, what can I do for you?"

He smiled back. "I... have a request."

-o-

Thanks for ZusVayo again.


	21. Promotion

Expectations of Development

-o-

Promition

-o-

"You want what?" Tsunade asked. Her eyes wide open, just as expected, really.

"I want to become your apprentice." Sasuke repeated his request. He knew how weird that seemed. He really, really did. But at the same time, it made perfect sense to him.

Tsunade regarded him like a strange animal that had somehow wandered into her office. "And why, do you want to become a medic nin?" She asked dubiously.

He could see Shizune in the corner, looking at him just as strangely as Tsunade.

"I... want to help people." He said after a few seconds. Well, he assumed that's what she wanted to hear and it had a certain amount of truth in it. After seeing Naruto wake up, knowing his rival wouldn't become a cripple for life... that had felt good, very good. And he would like to spread that feeling. To make other people feel like that. To have himself feel like that when he patched his teammates up, his teammates and his friends.

Tsunade watched him silently, an eyebrow high above her left eye.

"Well, that and I want to become stronger." He admitted, nothing wrong with that, right?

"At least the second part was honest." Tsunade sighed.

"I did mean the first part as well." He quickly protested, he did mean it.

Leaning back Tsunade regarded him with narrowed eyes. "Medic nin aren't exactly front line forces, your job will be to hang back and make sure your teammates pull through after they have been injured."She leaned towards him again. "That means, you stand back, you make sure that you don't need a medic to heal you, which means you don't get involved in the fight at all!" She stared at him, hard.

He resisted the temptation to take a step back. He hadn't thought about that aspect of a medic nin. He would have to hold back in fights, that could be inconvenient...

But Tsunade hadn't finished yet. "And that isn't even getting into your chakra control."

He pushed the other thing back, he had decided and he wouldn't let something like that put him away from his path. It just meant he would have to be a bit more subtle than expected, nothing more.

"I can..."

"Haruno I would accept without a second thought." Tsunade ran over his counter argument as if he hadn't even opened his mouth. "You? You aren't exactly the most concerned with chakra control. And that's the most important thing as far as medical jutsu go. Power is nice, but we need absolute control." She glared at him. "Don't think it's as simple as your waterwalking. Medical jutsu are an art. Much more elegant and demanding than anything you have done before."

Sasuke frowned at that, fighting to hide his smirk. If she thought she could dissuade him with that, she didn't get him at all. "I can do it." He ground out. "I will learn how to control my chakra better."

Tsunade snorted. "Oh? You still think it's easy do you?"

"Is that a challenge?" He smirked at her, causing her to blink. From the corner of his eyes he could see Shizune, smiling behind her hand.

Tsunade grumbled something about realizing who she talked to and shook her head. "I would still prefer Haruno, she is more suited to this kind of thing."

"She's also not interested... lately she's more interested in breaking people, instead of putting them back together." Sasuke countered. Especially after they had returned. After Naruto had woken up and she had told him everything about their fight with Orochimaru and Itachi, she had wandered off, searching for Anko. Sasuke shuddered as he remembered the look in her eyes. She planned something, something nasty. Whether that was for herself, or for others... he didn't want to know.

"And here I thought the same went for you." Tsunade observed dryly.

He coughed, only a month or so ago she would have been very right. Only two weeks ago she would have been right. Now though...

"I... realized that I won't be able to take Itachi with brute strength. He's not the type to fall to that. If I want to defeat him it will have to be through subtler means. Something medical jutsu can give me." He explained,

"I'm not exactly sure how to feel about that." Tsunade answered.

"Also, as a medic nin I'll be able to recover from injuries rather fast, even from a totally destroyed chest." He grinned at her. "That seems very useful in any sort of combat. Never mind all the hard training I can get done because I can heal the damage right in place. And I'll get twice the practice since I use chakra to heal myself and my sparring partners."

Tsunade regarded him seriously, tapping a finger against her chin. "I see." She said.

"Also, thanks to the sharingan I'll be able to see where somebody is hurt, instantly. I'll be able to learn really fast, what with the near photographic memory." He went on, trying to sell her on the concept.

"Learn? Or commit the books to memory and then forget about them, until you need the information, making it far too slow to use." She asked, disdain clearly evident in her voice.

He grit his teeth. He had heard that criticism of the sharingan a few times, even from Kakashi. Especially form Kakashi. And the man had been right, there was a rather large difference between learning something and knowing it.

Of course, he had also explained that only knowing a jutsu didn't mean you shouldn't perform it. But you shouldn't depend on it. There were situations where such a jutsu would be useful, but you should always be aware that you didn't know the intricacies as somebody who had learned the jutsu.

On the other hand, you couldn't learn every jutsu you stole with the sharingan. Not every jutsu suited you after all and some were plainly not worth knowing anyway. Best to focus on learning a few techniques you were really interested in and perfect them.

"I meant learn. The sharingan helps there as well." He glared back at Tsunade.

"Even with books?"

"Well, not as much as with body movement and chakra, but still pretty well." He conceded.

Tsunade frowned at him for a while, before she sighed. "I suppose body movement and chakra would be important part of your apprenticeship." She admitted. "But speaking of the sharingan. Don't you want to control that more? It's a rather important part of who you are after all."

"I... had assumed you would be rather busy most of the time, what with being Hokage and thought I could learn that from Kakashi." He looked away from her.

"My apprentice, going to somebody else for training, even while he received training from me?" Tsunade looked positively appalled.

A bit too appalled really. "You would approve of that then?" He asked.

She rubbed her chin. "You would also learn from Shizune, and you would have to go on the occasional mission of course, you do need some money after all."

And he had her, she had practically agreed already. A look at Shizune confirmed it, she looked a bit surprised.

"Hmm... one month." Tsunade said, looking directly at him. "One month of you learning as much as you can from me. Then I'll decide if you have what it takes to be a medic nin. And much more importantly, if you have what it takes to be my apprentice. Even if you could be a decent medic nin, I don't need decent. I need exceptional."

He smirked and nodded. A challenge he could deal with, a challenge was something to overcome. "I won't disappoint you." He promised.

Tsunade merely raised an eyebrow. "We'll see." Her warm smile took a lot of bite out of it though. "Well, can't say I'm sad to get to know you even better... if this works out of course, I'm still not really convinced."

He nodded quickly. Actually he wasn't all that sure himself. It sounded reasonable, going for the subtleties of medical jutsu instead of the flashy jutsu Kakashi used... hmm, that chidori of Kakashi, if you used that speed with a chakra scalpel... Sasuke smirked as he bowed to Tsunade and turned around. No, medical jutsu weren't a mistake if he could pull them off. Something like that... well who expected that the fist coming at them with high speed would rip their hearts to shreds?

"Oh Sasuke? Can you find Sakura and tell her to come to me? I have something to discuss with her. If you see them, this concerns Shikamaru and Tenten as well." Tsunade said before he closed the door.

He looked back and nodded quickly.

-o-

Sakura looked curiously at Tenten and Shikamaru. Sasuke had found her ten minutes ago, preparing for another session of mind-scarring, bone-crushing training with Anko.

Actually the training mostly scarred her mind and left her bones intact. After she told Anko how they had run into Orochimaru again Anko had started a minute long rant about what a bastard Orochimaru had been to her and how much he deserved to die. Painfully. In a pit of Vipers, with spikes and other more and more improbable torture devices.

Sakura got a nice collection of new words out of the rant.

After that Anko had looked down at her, frowned and stepped up her usual training regime. Naruto hadn't been released yet and Sasuke had some soul searching to do, if Sakura interpreted the expression right, so she had decided to tell Anko about her adventure and ask for more training.

Alone, since she needed it, if she ever wanted to catch up to Sasuke or Naruto. At least enough that her cheating like hell and back actually had an effect.

She could hit herself over her stupidity with Kabuto, she had once again gambled everything on one move, but this time, finally, it hadn't paid off. Instead it backfired horribly and could have killed both her, Sasuke, Jirayia and Shizune. Tsunade would only have been enslaved by Orochimaru. Which probably would have been much, much worse.

She shook off her revery and focused on Tsunade, who watched the three of them carefully. Actually she watched only Shikamaru and her carefully, Tenten she had only glanced at once.

"You are probably wondering why you are here." She open up finally.

Tenten nodded once, Shikamaru shrugged and Sakura blinked.

"Well, congratulations are in order, you three made chunin." Tsunade said. She immediately handed Tenten a west, who took it with something coming close to awe.

"From what I heard you did a good job in the tournament and, much more importantly, in the invasion. Good work Tenten." Tsunade smiled at the older girl.

Then she turned back to Shikamaru and Sakura. Shikamaru didn't look as if he liked the attention on him at all. Tsunade studied them some more.

Sakura for her part didn't know how to feel about this, she didn't mind the pay rise, that would actually be really nice. However the added responsibilities that came with the job, the very real possibility of sending somebody to their deaths...

"Actually only Tenten is really a chunin. The two of you are somewhat probationary chunin." Tsunade added.

Before Sakura could sigh in relief however she continued. "Of course, that just means you can be busted back down to genin if your performance isn't up to it. You'll have all the responsibilities and rights a normal chunin has. I'm just not sure how well you'll handle yourselves under stress. But as my advisers have pointed out, the best way to learn is to do it."

Sakura disagreed with that, she would much prefer to train for it first. Seemed much safer.

Still, Tsunade handed each of them their vests and there wasn't anything they could do about it, really.

Tenten smiled at them. "Congratulation you two, you did rather well in the exams."

Shikamaru frowned down at his vest. "Actually... Ino should have this. If it weren't for her I would have lost the first match, no questions asked. If she hadn't pushed me to train." He shook his head.

Tsunade nodded. "I've read the reports, but in the interest of international relations we'll wait for the next chunin exams. She'll have some added responsibilities regardless. Just like other genin who have distinguished themselves in the invasion." She looked down at a paper on her desk. "And afterward."

Sakura frowned at her vest. Hopefully she wouldn't be tasked too hard yet, her last foray into responsibility had been rather... unpleasant.

Tsunade leaned back and caught their attention again. "You should go out and celebrate a bit, today is the last day you'll have free time. From tomorrow on, you and your teams will have to take over the slack, Konoha lost a lot of nin and we need to use genin to spring in for more experienced teams wherever possible.

"That will be your responsibilities, your jonin will be taking some of the more dangerous missions, alone, while you are doing C-Rank missions and similar. I would have liked to spare you that a bit longer, let you grow into the position, but we really don't have the time for that."

Tsunade looked each of them in the eyes. "You three have shown that you have what it takes to be chunin, make me proud."

-o-

Sakura walked uncomfortably, the unfamiliar weight of the west throwing her balance of slightly. Or maybe she just imagined it, the vest seemed far more heavy than it should be. She could almost feel the responsibility dripping off it.

"Honestly, Ino should get the vest. If it weren't for her pushing me so much I'd never have... beaten Naruto. Or hell, the judge should have just let Naruto do his thing. I'm sure he could have pulled through a slit throat." Shikamaru continued his rant. Sakura guessed he wouldn't stop until he ran out of air. She could sympathize though. When she had entered the exam she honestly hadn't expected to actually succeed. Bah, her plans never worked as she... planned them.

"You just got a promotion, you should be happy Nara." Tenten chided him, an amused smile on her lips.

"Easy for you to say, you actually wanted the position. Ino just pushed me around till I resigned myself to it."

Shaking her head Tenten groaned. "Seriously. What's wrong with you Nara? You get a pay-raise and more recognition in the village. That should make you happy."

"Well, you don't have to order Ino around either." He quickly retorted.

"Nope, just Neji and Lee." Came the cheerful, much too cheerful reply.

Shikamaru shuddered and shut up. "Point."

"What about you? You don't seem all that happy yourself Sakura." Tenten turned to her.

She shrugged. "Ehh, it's the responsibility. What if I make a mistake? What if I get somebody killed? It worked out last time, barely. But what about the next time?" She sighed.

Tenten grimaced. "Ugh, you two take all the joy out of this promotion. We were supposed to celebrate it, not to mope around about it." Tenten shook her head. "Seriously, you two. Can't you just be happy about it?"

Sakura smiled at her. "I suppose I should be happy. I mean I can afford more and better ingredients now. And more wire. Hmm..." She tapped her finger on her lips absently. "Maybe I can even upgrade to some of that razor wire, the really sharp one." She grinned wickedly.

Shikamaru grimaced and looked at her arm, the bandages were off for now, until she had time for new ones. But the lines crossing all over it reminded her why razor wire might not be that good an idea.

Tenten looked away from the arm as well. She had a few scars as well, nothing so obvious though. "I suppose. Anyway how about we go, forget about work for a day? I heard you had a neat little party going on before the finals." She grinned at them.

Shikamaru groaned. Sakura smirked at him. "You had fun, admit it."

"I'll not respond to that. You three as drunken harlots were scary." Shikamaru replied.

"Ohh, I didn't hear about that!" Tenten grinned at them, her eyes wandering from one to the other. "Come on, tell me."

Sakura coughed uncomfortably. "We just... you know kinda hooked up Hinata and Naruto." She blushed bright red. "You know, because Naruto needs a sledgehammer to get something like that into his head."

"Oh, what are you talking about?" Tenten leaned even closer.

Now, that she was sober, what she had done seemed far less like a good idea and far more like the worst idea ever. How to get out of this... "I just remembered I promised to visit Naruto after training, since I've skipped training I have to visit him now! Just ask Shikamaru!" She dodged Tenten's hand, as the other girl went for her arm and sped off.

A quick look over her shoulder revealed a laughing Tenten, who quickly latched onto Shikamaru, effectively preventing his escape.

The story would come out now, but at least she wouldn't have to suffer through the embarrassment of telling it herself.

Instead she went to the hospital. She had promised to visit Naruto there, even if he would get out tomorrow already. With his chakra coils healed, his normal regeneration had kicked in again and whatever damage remained rapidly decreased.

She quickly arrived at the hospital. It made quite the different picture now, that most of the wounded from the invasion were gone. Only the worst remained and those were in private rooms. She nodded at a few doctors she remembered from her own stays after various training exercises. Anko really wasn't gentle, not gentle at all.

Quietly she opened the door to Naruto's room. He sat on his bed, legs crossed under him, eyes closed and breathing slowly.

She raised an eyebrow and slowly snuck up on him. Naruto, meditating? When had he picked that up? She had seen him attempt it, he never lasted more than a minute or two.

"Hey Sakura." He greeted her before she came anywhere close to him. She stopped in surprise, he had actually been paying attention to his surroundings? She knew he could do that, but that he had managed it while attempting to meditate?

"You've gotten better at that." She admitted as she pulled a chair beside his bed and sat down.

"Thanks. One good thing about being trapped in your own mind with nothing but a demon for company. You learn a few tricks to keep yourself occupied." He grinned at her.

"You're a bit quiet. Kinda scary actually." She admitted to him.

"Hmm? Would you prefer if I screamed how good it is to see you?" He waggled his eyebrows comically. "Maybe ask you out for a date?"

"You've got Hinata for that." She reminded him quickly. What had she set him up with Hinata for if he forgot that constantly?

"Ehehe, I know. I'm just kidding." He unwound himself and let his legs dangle from the bed. "Still can't get used to it though. I mean... why would she care about me so much?" He frowned a bit. "Her father even visited me. Glared a bit down at me, then said I did a good job and I could visit the Hyuuga compound sometime. It was weird! And Hinata nearly fainted again." He looked at her. "Why would he do that?"

Sakura had a good idea. With Naruto getting better standing in the village getting him into the family became more and more attractive. Thus improving the relationship with Hinata would be a worthy goal.

She didn't mind that actually. Naruto marrying into such a clan could only be good for him... and his manners. Smiling she ruffled his hair. "It means he likes you and approves of you dating his daughter... just don't do anything to upset him, or Hinata, like flirting with another girl."

He blinked. "Like me? Approves? Flirt?" Then he shook his head. "Oh well, I'll figure it out."

Slowly a frown spread over his face. He pushed himself off the bed and walked over to the window. "But, that reminds me of something." She hadn't heard him that serious... ever. She had heard him angry, but not serious. And maybe a bit hurt?

"You know, before we came across Gaara?" He didn't look at her, instead he continued to stare out of the window.

"Uhh... yeah?" She asked, wondering what this was about.

"I... really didn't like that." He said, no growled.

"What?" She would have expected him to be angry about her sending him to his ill fated distraction of Gaara, but what had she done before that?

"You know? You revealing the Kyuubi to everybody!" He had finally turned around and glared at her angrily.

She recoiled, she had totally forgotten that. "I... it worked out right?" She quickly defended herself.

"Maybe, but what if it hadn't?" He didn't shout, she noticed he simply glared at her.

"Well, then they wouldn't have been very good friends would they?" She shot back, careful not to shout herself.

"Or they just didn't have the chance to get to know me yet! You can't just expect anybody to accept something like that out of the blue." He countered her calmly. Where had that Naruto come from? He should shout loudly.

"I... I needed to know where they stood, I needed them not to freak out!" She tried a different track. "I couldn't afford for them to focus more on you than on Gaara when you used that chakra."

He didn't stop glaring, but he nodded. "That's not even the problem. I accept that you needed them to know. But that you didn't even ask me about revealing that." He stopped glaring now. Instead he looked hurt, making her want to hug him. Though she suspected it wouldn't be appreciated at the moment.

"You didn't mind with Sasuke." She muttered petulantly. "And there I actually told him, without giving you the choice of telling him."

He snorted. "That's different, he's my teammate. He's... different." He finished lamely. Sakura didn't see how, but he hadn't finished. "And anyway, you didn't really give me a choice did you? You knew I couldn't not reveal it." He balled his fists. "That hurt you know?"

She looked away. "I needed to..."

"I would have agreed to reveal it, if you had actually asked me!" He interrupted her harshly.

She shrunk back, but rallied valiantly. "I didn't have the time." She tried one last time.

He shrugged. "Maybe. But a simple question on the way would have been enough, instead of just shouting it out, for all to hear." He took a deep breath. "I had a lot of time to think about it you know? Inside my head... it... it seemed as if time went by slower. Nothing to do but think."

She shuffled her feet uncomfortably. This was another of those responsibility things Kakashi talked to her about. And damn it, if she wanted to lead her team she would have to regain his trust. And the first step to that would be to admit that yes, she had been wrong to not even ask him.

"I'm sorry." She whispered. "I'm sorry about just revealing your secret... and... and not even asking you. I should have been more considerate."

"Eh, waters under the bridge." Her head shot up and stared at his grinning face. "I mean I would be a whole lot more angry if people had reacted poorly, but hey everything worked out all right."

"Wha? Wha? What the hell? What was all that about me not asking you then?" She screeched, not caring who heard her this time.

"Well, I did want you to apologize for it." He shrugged. "You know, since it's so rare that I do get an apology when somebody else does something wrong for once."

She raised her fist to hit him, though when he turned away, still grinning she changed the hit into a hug. "Idiot, that's because it's mostly your fault."

He shrugged again. "Maybe, but not always." She quickly slipped out of the hug again and ruffled his hair instead. "Sorry again. I should have been more considerate."

"Eh, as I said. It worked out in the end, so I shouldn't complain too loudly." And he couldn't stay angry with her as well, but that had nothing to do with it, she was sure.

Suddenly he blinked and stared at her in confusion.

"What?" She asked.

"You made chunin!" He shouted excitedly. Finally showing that yes, this actually as Naruto, not a convincing fake. "And I didn't!" He glared a bit at her. Totally unfair in her opinion, she didn't really want the position after all.

"You are so buying me some ramen for this." He nodded to himself. "And more ramen for the Kyuubi thing. And then some just because."

She stared at him for a few seconds, shaking her head, before she couldn't hold in her laughter anymore. "Fine, fine. Do you want the ramen now, or tomorrow?"

He scrunched up his face in thought. Finally he nodded. "Tomorrow is good. This Tsunade lady is scary."

Sakura nodded. "Oh yeah, that she is, as we told you."

-o-

Ino frowned as she watched the older man work. Jirayia had arrived with Sakura, Sasuke and the new Hokage. And before that he had trained Sakura.

She couldn't exactly fault his results, but she didn't entirely trust him working on Gaara. She didn't really trust anybody working on Gaara. The poor boy had entirely too many people regard him as a tool already.

She grimaced, she had become far too attached to the boy. He had attacked Konoha, had crippled Naruto. Though Naruto had recovered. And would have killed them all and enjoyed it, if he had been given half a chance.

The only reason they were still alive was that they had defeated him. So why did she feel so protective of him?

She looked down, at the peacefully sleeping boy. Oh right, because underneath the murderous exterior rested a scared little boy who only knew betrayal. And Konoha would send him back to Sand, where he had experienced all that betrayal. Ino grumbled at that, he should stay here, where she could take proper care of him.

"It's done." Jirayia stood up and moved away from Gaara. The circle of weird symbols around him had disappeared, instead he sprouted a new tattoo on his shoulder. "He'll have a bit of trouble controlling sand and a lot of the stuff that came instinctive before, he'll have to actually train to use. But there shouldn't be any voices talking to him."

Ino nodded and bowed to him. "Thank you."

Jirayia shrugged. "He'll also be unable to pull Shukaku out, unless he somehow manages to break the seal. Which should be nearly impossible, at least without me around." He grinned at her. "Can't have him attempt a repeat can we?"

She sighed and shook her head. "He wouldn't, but I suppose the Hokage thinks it's better to be safe than sorry."

"Exactly. But don't worry, if Sand behaves this shouldn't be a problem. Maybe he'll even be allowed to visit." Jirayia patted her head. "In any case, he'll need sleep, the seal is rather draining. And I need to get some rest as well." He waved and left the room. Gaara still wouldn't actually leave it, not until the delegation from Sand showed up and picked him up. She frowned at the thought. If those bastards were cruel to Gaara...

She sighed, picked him up and deposited him on the bed. If they were cruel she would have to stand by and watch, since she couldn't allow an international incident.

"Geez, you are a lot of trouble you know that?" She grumbled at the boy.

"Hmm, that coming from you... it's refreshing." Shikamaru said, leaning against the cell door.

"Huh? Shika what are you doing here?" She asked, leaving Gaara alone for now. "Just came here to tell you I made chunin... and to thank you for making it possible." He shot her an evil glare.

She smirked at him. "See, told you could do it."

"Yes, thank you. Luckily you didn't escape entirely. Since you did push me and did as well as you did with Gaara you'll be next." He grinned at her.

She raised an eyebrow. "Only you would think that's a bad thing."

"Sakura as well, she realized what being a chunin means." He smirked at her.

She looked back at Gaara, she wanted to be there when he woke up... then again, if given half a chance he would sleep through most of the day anyway. She could probably just wake him up whenever she wanted.

Quietly she closed the door behind her and gestured for Shika to follow her.

"What do you mean?"

He sighed. "I'm now responsible, not just for myself but for all those I've been given command over. I'm just glad that Sakura knocked me out in the tournament. I might have been given command then... and who knows what would have happened." He shuddered slightly.

"You would have done fine." Ino assured him.

"Maybe, but would I have insisted on bringing all of you? Would that have made a difference? I went over Sakura's report again and again. I wonder if you realize just how close that fight actually was." He looked at her.

She nodded, she had a good idea of how close they all had gotten to dieing. "I know. But you would have found a way."

He looked away. "Maybe. In any case, we don't have much time for training, we've got the day off, but starting tomorrow we'll have C-Rank missions to look forward to. Our jonin will be busy with A- and B-Rank missions."

She grimaced, that would mean no time for anything, like seeing Gaara off. Well, not unless they were chosen as an escort for him.

"Do you know what mission we'll have tomorrow?" She asked quietly.

"No, as I said, I have the day off today to celebrate." He snorted. "As if."

Ino rolled her eyes. "You really should just relax. It's not that bad. You knew what that you would have to do this one day, right?"

"Yeah, just not this early." He grumbled.

"You and Sakura both." She muttered, remembering Sakura's planning for the future.

He shrugged. "Let's go, find Choji. Didn't have a chance to tell him yet."

-o-

Temari smiled and barely managed to suppress her elated shout as they left Suna behind. She loved her village dearly, for all it's faults, but not having to worry about her decisions and how they would affect it? Bliss.

"Should I worry about you being so happy to leave Suna?" Kankuro asked an eyebrow raised.

"Hehe, no. Just glad that I won't have to make any decisions until we reach Konoha." She replied easily.

Baki nodded behind her, accompanied them once again, officially as a team-leader. Temari suspected it would be to evaluate her work in Konoha. But for now they simply settled into their old, familiar pattern. Only Gaara's absence put a damper on her spirits.

"It's weird." Kankuro spoke up. "With Gaara here, I was terrified, now that he isn't here it feels weird. And we weren't a team for all that long." He looked around, as if searching for him.

"I know what you mean." She replied. "And... I still feel bad for leaving him in Konoha."

"We are getting him out of there. And he shouldn't have been treated too badly, he's too valuable a bargain chip to waste like that." Baki added, watching her closely.

"I know. It doesn't change me feeling bad though. We abandoned him, just left him behind." Temari sighed.

"Well... he would have done the same to us, right?" Kankuro asked.

"Probably." She conceded, not that it helped any. She prided herself to be better than Gaara, not the same.

"Don't worry, we'll make it up to him. I mean with you as the Kazekage we can start with not sending assassins after him." Kankuro grinned at them.

Both her and Baki studiously ignored him. What was it with him and Konoha, whenever they approach the city his I.Q. seemed to drop. Maybe it was the heat of Suna? Made him smarter?

Or the city itself, seeing as they were still in the desert?

Something she would have to figure out, she couldn't afford to lose her best adviser, not on a mission this critical.

-o-

Sakura finished her morning session, her long hair styled perfectly, her skin perfect, beside the scars hidden beneath the bandages, her teeth brushed. She looked into the mirror and pulled on her new vest. A small whimper escaped her.

She was a chunin! She had been given the lead over her small team, she would have to make sure they didn't do anything stupid, like getting killed following her orders.

She took a deep, deep breath. Calm, she had to be calm. Another breath followed. She could do this, hell she had done it. Leading Naruto and Sasuke should be easy, just make sure they don't kill each other, use Naruto for ideas, use Sasuke to shoot down the obviously stupid ones, refine the rest or use her own ideas where applicable.

Yeah, she could do this, no problem!

A few minutes later she stared at Sasuke. No, no she couldn't do this, not at all.

"What happened to your hair?" She asked, almost begging him not to explain the frizzled and burned mop of hair on his head.

He looked away. "Accident with the hair technique... I might have tried too hard."

Sakura sighed, she had no idea why he would do that, but she wouldn't let him run around like that. "Come here." She ordered and quickly went to work on his hair. She frowned, it took a lot more effort than her own, even though he had far less hair than herself.

After a few minutes his hair had however returned, if not to his usual standards then at least something presentable.

"This exercise is about control, not power." She lectured him, geez he should have gotten that the first time, really.

"I know." He grumbled moodily.

"Hey! Sakura, Sasuke!" Naruto shouted grinning widely at them. "It's good to be outside again! You won't believe just how much being stuck in your own head sucks!" He whirled around them, running to and fro, constantly doing something. Sakura could feel a headache coming. He looked like a squirrel on far too much coffee, as he leaped from tree to tree, jumped up along the trees, then down again and back to them.

She narrowed her eyes. He couldn't face Tsunade like that, so she had to do something about him. "Well, since you have so much energy, how about a little spar? To get back into the swing of things?"

With Kakashi not showing up, they had plenty of time before they had to arrive at the mission office, they usually only showed up at 12, it was eight now, plenty of time for some training. Sadly Anko had to prepare for a mission at the moment, Kakashi had already gone on his mission and she hadn't seen Jirayia anywhere, probably searching for inspiration. Which she didn't mind, anything for more Icha Icha after all.

Sasuke and Naruto looked at each other for a few seconds, before frightening identical grins sprouted on their faces. Maybe she should have thought this through better.

A second later the boys clashed and it became readily apparent that Naruto's enforced rest had left him in Sasuke's dust, he had been catching up, slowly to the other boy, but after the two weeks of training Sasuke and her had gone through Naruto had a lot of ground to cover.

She frowned, but at the same time... he moved smother, just a little bit more elegant. And even with all the pent up energy he displayed, he seemed... calm, far more sure of himself. She frowned thoughtfully, combined with his excitement even though Sasuke moved faster and hit harder, Naruto could keep up. Somewhat at least.

"Hey! You aren't joining the fun?" He shouted at her. "Think you are too good to train with us? Now that you made chunin?" He taunted her, ignoring the little tick under her left eye. "And don't forget you still owe me some ramen!"

Oh, right... well there went her first chunin paycheck. Maybe she should ask Iruka for advice, she had seen him feed Naruto on occasion.

"Hmpf, she just knows she would get in the way." Sasuke joined in the taunting. When had he developed a sense of humor anyway? She would need to beat that out of him again.

"I need to observe you, to get an idea where you stand and what my team is capable of." She countered them. "Nothing more."

Hmm... maybe she could make them fight shirtless? Or would that constitute an abuse of power?

"Fine, coward." Naruto sniped, even as he dodged a punch from Sasuke, who nodded in agreement.

"Oh, for that I'll try to get the most disgusting D-Rank missions I can get and make you do all the work!" She shouted back, noting their flinches with satisfaction.

Sasuke leaned back and let a kick from Naruto sail harmlessly over his head. "Please don't Sakura we're sorry! Right bastard!" Naruto shouted back. Sasuke used the distraction to drive a fist into his stomach.

"Yes." He said blandly afterward, making sure Naruto couldn't retaliate.

"Apology..." She started to say haughtily, until she whipped her wires up and around the two, forcing them together and making them an easy target for her fists. "denied!"

Their eyes widened in panic as they struggled to get out of the wires, with little success obviously. "Bwahahaha! That will teach you to ignore your surroundings!"

A few minutes later she let the lightly bruised boys out of her wires. "Well, ready for round two?" She grinned. "This time with paying attention to what's happening around you?"

They nodded, glared at her slightly, but turned to each other. She watched them lazily, through half closed eyes.

Another nod, this time at each other, almost imperceptible. It was all the warning she got, as they suddenly rushed her, Sasuke moving ahead of Naruto, sharingan in full effect. She tried to look away, but she just knew he had caught her in a genjutsu. Quickly her hands flew into the familiar seal. It took some effort to break through it, but for her not too much.

Of course, the delay cost her, as Sasuke's fist met her face, sending her flying. Naruto followed almost immediately, the smile he wore telling her that ramen wasn't quite enough to sate his lust for revenge. And in a sparring match he had the perfect excuse to let out some steam.

"Eeep!" She whimpered, desperately blocking his punches. Maybe she shouldn't have attacked both of them at the same time.

-o-

Team seven stood before Tsunade in the mission office. She had decided to watch the proceedings here for a while, to get a feel for things and because Sarutobi had done it as well, as often as he could. It was a good way to connect with your ninja as well.

She raised an eyebrow at the state they had shown up in. Sakura had a black eye, Sasuke limped slightly and only Naruto appeared to not have suffered any injury at all. But then, she had seen how fast he could regenerate when she worked on him. As soon as she had managed to remove the worst damage his body had done the rest.

All of them were dirty as well. "What happened to you three?" She asked slightly incredulous.

"We sparred a bit and forgot the time." Sakura said quickly and slightly guiltily.

"I see, well good thing your mission doesn't require you to be presentable. To ease you in it's just a D-Rank for now, there's some fields on the west side of Konoha, they have some trouble with pests. You go and clear them. Afterward you clean up yourselves, once that's done you come back and I'll give you a C-Rank." She smirked at them. "And Sasuke, once that is finished we'll start with your training. Don't think you'll get out of it just because you've been busy all day."

He narrowed his eyes angrily, affronted by the implication that he wanted to give up. "I'll be there." He growled.

She actually wondered if he had another way to communicate, beside growls, grunts and one line statements. Oh well, she would just have to beat it into him.

Sakura on the other hand had sagged in relieve at the mention of a D-Rank mission. Nervous about her first official command eh?

The blond brat on the other hand seemed disappointed at the D-Rank mission, well and confused by her telling them about Sasuke's training, the boy hadn't told them about it apparently.

"Huh, what's she talking about Sasuke?" He asked his teammate.

"Hmm... I'm her apprentice." Sasuke explained quickly.

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "Huh... I would ask why you decided that, but I suppose I get why." She had a far away look in her eyes. "That was incredibly awesome after all."

Tsunade preened under the praise and noted with satisfaction that Sasuke had the same far away look as Sakura.

Naruto looked from one to the other and sighed. "Man I wish I had been there, I wanted to see that too."

Sakura patted him on the shoulder. "Don't worry about it, you were pretty awesome as well, doing your Kyuubi impression."

Kyuubi impression? Hmm, she would have to look into what exactly he did with the Kyuubi chakra, she didn't have the time to hear the details yet. "Well, you brats have your mission, off you go, we wouldn't want our clients to get the wrong idea now would we?"

They all shook their heads and quickly went away. Tsunade blinked, shouldn't they have been here way earlier anyway? She looked at the chunin beside her. "What's with them showing up so late anyway? You seemed to expect them so late."

He shrugged. "They are Kakashi's bunch, they are usually this late, so we just save them a scroll."

"So... even with Kakashi absent they are late?"

He blinked. "Damn... he rubbed off on them."

Tsunade could just tell that she would regret coming back. And much sooner than she had expected.

-o-

Hinata fell into her bed, utterly exhausted. Shino might not have been promoted to chunin, but he had been given leadership of her team, while Kurenai was on her B-Rank mission. And he pushed them hard, very hard.

She smiled into the pillow. She actually liked that. Kurenai did coddle them a little bit, not enough to hinder them, or slow them down, just enough so they didn't burn themselves out. But with the way things were going they might need every edge they could get.

She thought back to the many evenings she watched Naruto laying in his bed, utterly motionless.

Which brought her inevitably to Naruto waking up. And it also brought her to the invitation father had given Naruto. She could feel the blush creeping onto her face.

If Naruto came over then she would have to show him the compound, and the house... and her room. Her blush increased in intensity.

And once she had introduced him to everybody, they might go to her room to talk. And then Naruto would want to ki... ki... kiss... and then maybe he would want to...

She was out like light a second later, slipping into pleasant dreams of Naruto cuddling up to her, holding her and being awake and with her.

-o-

Naruto whistled slightly as he walked home. The day had been good, sure the D-Rank mission had been lame, the pests were easily dealt with and Sakura just coordinated them... without doing anything herself. But she did feed him afterward, so all was forgiven.

The C-Rank mission hadn't been more of a challenge really, patrol the outskirts of the village. It involved nothing but walking around the village wall, making sure nobody tried to sneak in. At least they were outside the village this time and Sakura had allowed them to spar every half hour for a few minutes. Though one of them had to be on guard at all time.

All in all though the day hadn't been bad. He got to move around, he finally had somebody beside the fox to talk to and he got to see something beside the same boring walls every freaking day.

Yes, it had been a good day.

"Hey brat." A familiar voice interrupted his thoughts. Jirayia leaned against a wall watching him amused. "You look as if you had taken a bath in the dirt."

Naruto shrugged, you got dirty when you sparred, especially when you sparred outside. "Well, me and my teammates did spar a lot today, gotta get stronger again.. Sasuke and Sakura had some time to improve I didn't have." And damn it that just wasn't fair! He should have gotten some training too.

"Oh? Well, then you won't mind me helping you out a bit in the evening?"

Naruto blinked and quickly shook his head. "Hell yeah! I'll catch up to them in no time!" Naruto shouted excitedly. Drawing stares from everybody around. He coughed, he usually had liked the attention, but now? It made him feel kinda weird. Stupid fox and stupid time, bendy, thingy...

Jirayia didn't seem to notice his reaction to the incredulous stares he received. "Good, wanna start immediately or do you want some ramen first?"

Naruto thought about it, ramen would be good, but he needed to catch up fast...

"Training first, I can have ramen afterward." He decided quickly.

"Good decision, come on." He led Naruto out of the village to a clearing team seven had passed in the afternoon.

"I actually wanted to teach this to you before the finals. Wish I had done it really, might have made a difference against Gaara." Jirayia said as they stopped. "But the team work training is better for the overall strength of your team."

Naruto frowned as he saw the troubled look that appeared on Jirayia's face when he said that.

"In any case, it did work out, more or less at least and I can teach this to you now." He grinned, bit into his thumb and brought it down on the ground. "Summoning no Jutsu!"

Naruto stumbled back as a giant toad appeared out of nowhere, not nearly as big as Sakura and Sasuke had told him Jirayia could summon, but big enough to be impressive. Slowly Naruto turned to Jirayia, eyes shining. "You are going to teach me how to summon toads?" He asked, awed.

Jirayia laughed loudly. "Exactly brat. You'll soon be able to use them instead of an overblown henge. Still takes a lot of chakra to summon them, especially the bigger ones. But nowhere near the amount you would need for a henge that big."

"Awesome!" Naruto shouted and hugged the older man. This would be so awesome, he looked at the toad, who watched them with a raised eyebrow.

"Who's the kid Jirayia?" The toad asked. "And why do you want to give him the contract?"

It didn't seem to mind, it just seemed curious.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki." Naruto said, he could have shouted it in outrage, but shouting, especially if the other person... or toad, was just curious would be impolite. He blinked, there had been at least one good thing about his imprisonment, he now had volume control!

He smiled at the toad. "And one day I'll be the Hokage."

The toad looked down at him hard. "Hmm... so you are Naruto eh? I suppose I can see it."

Jirayia nodded quickly. "Of course, he stopped Shukaku singlehandedly."

Something about how quickly Jirayia... wait singlehandedly? "I only distracted him, my teammates actually brought him down." He quickly corrected Jirayia, sure he had done a lot, but without his friends he would have died.

Jirayia rolled his eyes. "Of course they brought him down. But you actually stopped him in his tracks. If only for a short time. How many people can claim that?"

Naruto thought about it for a second. "Not many I suppose." He quickly puffed his chest out proudly.

"Exactly!" Jirayia held his thumbs up, before he pulled out a scroll. "And once you sign here you'll be a step closer to the position of Hokage. The fourth himself used toads you know?"

"What? Really?" Naruto turned to the big toad again. "You guys are so awesome!" He grinned at it and looked down at the scroll Jirayia had spread on the ground. The last name on the scroll read Namikaze Minato, the fourth Hokage. Slowly, almost reverently Naruto knelt down and bit his thumb, carefully writing his own name down. He took way more care than usual too. He snickered a bit to himself when he noticed that the fourth hadn't bothered with it and just scrawled his name down hastily.

A quick glance revealed that Jirayia hadn't been much better. Naruto frowned. Should he have been like them? They were crazily powerful after all.

But not, just because others decided to treat something like this with disrespect didn't mean Naruto had to. This would be an important stepping stone to his goals. He would threat it with the respect it deserved!

He finished, stood up and turned to Jirayia, a haughty expression on his face. "Geez you and the fourth have horrible handwriting."

Jirayia stared at him for a second, then pulled the scroll away from Naruto and glared at the impeccable style Naruto wrote his own name down with.

"The hell? I expected you to just scrawl it down as fast as possible." Jirayia exclaimed.

"Hmpf, this is an important part of my way to Hokage! Of course I would be careful." Naruto tried his best to look regal and refined.

Jirayia's fist to the head ruined his pose easily. "Don't act like that, you look stupid." Jirayia smirked at him. "Still, I suppose me and the fourth should have been a bit more... precise. But then, we were a bit... ehem out of it at the time."

"Huh? Out of it?"

"Well, once you are older I'll tell you about it. You are a bit young for the joining ritual." Jirayia looked pained and rubbed his head. "I still get a headache just thinking about it..."

The toad chuckled behind him. "Come on, teach the brat how to summon, I wanna see how he does."

Naruto frowned at the toad, something about the way he said it...

"Of course." Jirayia nodded and knelt down beside Naruto. "You've already seen most of it, it's easy really. You just use these handseals and concentrate on what you want summoned. Just think of any toad for now." Jirayia demonstrated without any chakra.

Naruto nodded slowly and went through the seals on his own. Slowly, very slowly.

After a few minutes of this he nodded and prepared himself for the real deal.

"Don't forget to get some blood on your hands." Jirayia reminded him. Nodding Naruto bit his thumb and went through the hand seals, carefully pumping chakra into them. He had noticed before, but it did come easier now, the control. Not nearly as effortlessly as in his mind, but a bit easier nevertheless.

His hand slammed into the ground and a small toad appeared. It looked around and then up at Naruto. "Hi!" It greeted him. "Do you have any sweets?"

Naruto blinked at it, then looked at Jirayia. "Uhh... that any good?"

Jirayia shrugged. "Eh, it will do for a first try."

"Better than his first try certainly." The big toad observed. Causing a twitch in Jirayia's eyes. "Why you!"

Naruto smirked. "Alright! Then this time with all my chakra!"

"Wha? No! Don't!" Jirayia whirled around.

Naruto ignored him, the day hadn't been as trying as he would have liked and using his chakra meant training it, right? His hands flowed into the seals again, but instead of pushing a small amount of it out he took everything he got and slammed it through the seals.

He frowned slightly as he shaped the torrent of chakra. It didn't want to obey him, just as he expected, but he could force it into the shape he wanted it to, after attempting to control the Kyuubi's chakra in his mind-scape, this was child's play.

"Summoning no Jutsu!" He shouted, only to be overwhelmed by a sense of vertigo. He blinked as he came to a sudden stop. He towered over the trees... hey he could see his house from here! And most of Konoha. And man this looked awesome with the setting sun in the distance.

"Jirayia! Why did you summon me?" A deep voice rumbled angrily beneath Naruto. "I'm still recovering from that fight with Orochimaru."

"Hey! He didn't summon you! I did!" Naruto shouted indignantly, he did the work, no way would Jirayia... wait battle against Orochimaru? "You were the guy he summoned to fight against Orochimaru? The one with the awesome giant fireball?"

He hopped down, trying to look the toad in the eyes.

The toad blinked. "Wha? Who are you brat?"

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki, future Hokage." He said proudly.

"Uzumaki? Hmm..." The toad looked down at Jirayia, jostling Naruto badly. "He really summoned me?"

Jirayia shrugged. "I wanted to stop him, but he got over exited."

Naruto pouted, he knew exactly what he was doing.

"Hmpf. Well, I'm going again then, if it's only a brat like this summoning me for no reason."

"Hey! I didn't summon you for no reason." Naruto protested. "Who are you anyway?" He glared at one eye.

"Brat, I'm Gamabunta, the boss of all toads." The toad rumbled. "Show some respect, or I'll squash you."

Ohh, he had summoned the boss. But really, he should have expected it, of course Jirayia would only use the strongest to fight Orochimaru.

"Man, on my second try even." Naruto's grin threatened to split his face.

"What? This is your second try to summon something?" Gamabunta sounded rather skeptical.

"Believe it! First one was... uhh I can't see him down there."

"Hey dad!" A faint voice wafted up.

"But I used only very little chakra, you know for practice." Naruto preened. "So now you'll have to fight for me right?"

The eye he talked to blinked. "Brat, even if you managed to summon me on the second try, that just means you got a lot of chakra and decent control. It doesn't mean I have to obey you." He rolled his eyes. "We haven't even exchanged sake yet."

"Uhh... I'm a bit too young to drink. The last time I tried it convinced me of that." Well, mostly the headache afterward.

"Hmpf, then why would I follow your orders?" Gamabunta asked amused. "I might accept you as my underling, at least for now."

"Hey! I beat Shukaku on my own! Well, slowed him down at least." He quickly corrected himself.

"Huh? You did?" Gamabunta seemed actually surprised at that. His tongue lashed out and grabbed Naruto, setting him on the ground, allowing the gigantic toad to get a better look at him. "Hmm... well I suppose with the Kyuubi you would be able to match the one tail, would be kinda sad if you couldn't."

Naruto deflated a bit, he hadn't learned much about accessing the fox yet. Jirayia had been a bit reluctant to go much further than the most basic use of it's chakra, so he shouldn't feel too bad about only serving as a distraction.

"Exactly! So I'm the boss see!" He shouted at the toad.

The giant sword Sakura and Sasuke told him about slammed into the ground before him.

"What I mean to say, obviously, was that you are the boss, boss and I'm your unworthy underling." Naruto quickly corrected himself. After all, anybody who could use that awesome sword commanded respect.

Didn't they also say Tsunade used it to nail a snake as big as Gamabunta to the ground? He gulped, maybe he should be careful around her as well. She hadn't seemed that though to him, scary sure, but not that though.

"Hmpf, you sure are scared easily." Gamabunta chuckled.

"Scared? Scared! I've faced down the damn fox!" Though he really hoped the bastard never made it out of the seal, the way Ino and him had pissed it off. There were limits after all.

"Oh behind the seal in your own mind eh?" The toad chuckled loudly. "Hell yeah! You aren't scaring me. I'm just showing proper respect is all. But I figure you aren't worth the respect! So hah!" Naruto turned around and looked away haughtily, his new found patience and calm had it's limits after all.

He didn't flinch when Gamabunta wrenched the giant sword out of the ground and whipped it over Naruto. Jirayia stood a good distance away, watching the spectacle with something approaching embarrassed horror.

The sword came down again, this time even closer to Naruto, he couldn't stop the flinch that followed. A giant sword did just slam down beside him after all.

Slowly he turned around and glared at the toad. "I'm not scared of bullies. I've taken on Shukaku." A slight exaggeration. "I can take on you." He glared up, and up and up... he doubted the toad could even see it from his perspective.

"Hahaha. Sure you aren't Uzumaki, sure you aren't." Gamabunta shook his head. "Well, you've got some guts. I suppose I can allow you to be my underling for now."

He turned to Jirayia who breathed a sigh of relief. "Take care of my underling for me eh?" And as suddenly as the giant toad had appeared it disappeared again.

The other toad seemed to have gone with Gamabunta, since Naruto couldn't spot him anymore either. Jirayia glared down at him. "Don't do that again you hear me? Dealing with Gamabunta is a serious matter that requires perfect manners and preparation."

Naruto raised an eyebrow in response.

"Well... or unless it's a fight. And I suppose to introduce yourself." Naruto continued to stare flatly. "Ok, fine. I'm just owning him some money, just glad he didn't call me out on it."

He grinned at the boy. "But great job summoning him, definitely worthy of... " He trailed off. "Well, definitely a great job. We should go back though. There are a few things I have to discuss with Tsunade." A frown spread over his face.

Naruto shrugged, with the excitement of summoning the giant toad he hadn't notice how much the summoning had taken out of him. Not nearly as much as the super henge hat taken, not even close. But enough to completely wipe him out. "Yeah, sure. Sounds like a good idea." He yawned, he had been up and about a long time as well, so sleep really sounded good.

-o-

Thanks to ZuzVaiyo again.

Also, this will be the last chapter until Friday the 3. I'll probably start with a new chapter of Fragments. The next Friday will be expectations and switch each week.


	22. On the run

Expectations of Development

-o-

On the run

-o-

Sasuke stared at the leaf in front of him, sweat running down his face. He carefully lifted it with his chakra, twisting it just right to... the leaf crumpled into a ball of it's component parts.

With a sigh Sasuke pulled out a new leaf. Tsunade had given him this assignment, coat a leaf in chakra, spin it around on his hand while also separating the stalks from the rest, while keeping it in shape.

He didn't have much success. And the effort to keep the frustration out of his task informed him just how much his temper hindered him. He got to work on the new leaf, once again coating and lifting it. Once again the leaf disintegrated into a tight ball of plant.

"Hmpf, enough for now I think. You've been at it for over two hours now." Tsunade stood behind him. "Let's do some training in how to dodge."

He wanted to protest, to tell her he needed to know how to attack. But he had chosen her as his teacher, knowing full well that he would be considered a support unit, not a front-line fighter. He could hardly complain now, could he?

Besides, knowing how to dodge meant knowing how to close in and attack an enemy. Same principle different application. Just like Kabuto's chakra scalpels. Designed to heal, deadly in close combat.

Nodding he pushed himself upright, sending a pulse of chakra into his legs waking them up. "I'm ready."

The sadistic smirk that quickly spread over Tsunade's face told him that h might have to reconsider his state of readiness. "Good."

A second later he frantically threw himself to the side, barely avoiding the chakra laden fist coming his way.

"Not bad." Tsunade praised him. "You have good instincts, and you had a lot of time to get out of the way. I think I can move a bit faster then."

Sasuke stared at his teacher for a second, before her smirk jumped onto his own face. Especially as he looked at the results of her punch. The earth had shattered where he stood, large chunks of it thrown away from Tsunade. Oh yes, learning how to do that, would make learning how to do the leaf thing worth it. "Eeep!" He threw himself away again, Tsunade's renewed attack wiping the smirk off his face.

"Don't stand there daydreaming. I won't have you die because you couldn't dodge a simple straightforward attack!" She shouted, this time not hitting the ground. Instead she spun into a kick, aimed at his head, her foot glowing ominously.

He leaned back and as the foot sailed mere millimeters over his nose he imagined he could smell the chakra surrounding it.

Turing his slow descent into a back-flip he attempted to bring some distance between himself and Tsunade, but he just managed to jump into an ideal position for her to follow up on her kick. "Shit!" Once again he threw himself at the dirt, to avoid certain death. Or at least the painful process of having his pulverized bones knitted back together. He had no doubt Tsunade could do it, maybe.

"Don't just think of dodging the attack!" The woman in question shouted at him. "Think where you need to go to avoid the follow up!"

Easy for her to say, he rolled out of the way oh her fist, using the following detonation of dust and soil to hide his exit. She didn't have a monstrously strong opponent intend on turning her into paste.

The smirk had returned however, as he jumped up and stepped aside, avoiding another blow and another and another. They came faster now, much faster. He hadn't even noticed that he had activated his sharingan, in order to avoid the blows, but it didn't matter. Tsunade pushed him to his limits and then beyond. He loved it.

"Turn those eyes off. I want you to be able to dodge the attacks without relying on them!" Tsunade glared at him, through the solid wall of punches.

Sasuke stared back, nearly shrugged, before he decided that lifting his shoulder into an attack would be a bad idea and instead leaned back. With a blink the sharingan disappeared and the punches came even faster. Much faster, once again he had to spring into frantic action to avoid the murderous blows directed his way.

Tsunade nodded once, the only sign that she seemed happy with him. Not that he minded, or could have said anything if she weren't. He didn't have the breath to spare, as he wove around punches kicks and flying earth. Again and again he had to suppress the sharingan springing to life, adding another layer to the game. Soon he only knew the rhythm of the fight, even as his muscles tired out, he didn't slow down, didn't dare to slow down.

"Stop!" Tsunade shouted suddenly, ceasing all motion in the clearing.

Sasuke looked around, trees had been reduced to splinters, the earth looked as if somebody had dropped a few hundred high level ninjutsu on it. And his lungs burned from the need to suck in sufficient air to make him move. His legs trembled, his arms fell to his side. Honestly, he wondered how he had avoided all the punches and kicks send his way.

"Not bad, really. I actually had to try to hit you. A bit." Tsunade grinned down at her apprentice. "But you are a combat nin, at least for now. So I probably should have expected that. Now let me heal you back up and we can go for round two."

He just nodded, he didn't have the breath to waste on words. He really needed to have her take the soreness away. Idly he looked at his left arm and blinked. A big bruise had developed there. He hadn't even noticed it, too focused on avoiding hits. He still couldn't feel it, or the arm for that matter. He tried to lift it, with little success.

"Oh, don't worry, I disabled the nerve centers in that arm when I hit. Otherwise it would hurt like a bitch and this is the first training unit. Wouldn't want to make you reconsider already." Tsunade explained as she started working on the arm.

Panting he searched for other numb spots on his body. He found them all over his body. He hadn't even registered the limp. In fact, there were distressingly few spots of his body not bruised. He stared at Tsunade. "What?" He gasped, his lungs still not working... he had a rather big bruise on his chest as well.

"You need better awareness of your body Sasuke. In a real fight this would have been the end of you. Your opponent would have disabled you without you even noticing." Her hands slowly, gently moved over his arm. "You have to be aware of things like that, to heal them before they become a problem." Her voice reminded him of his mother, gentle but firm, slightly scolding, but not angry.

He looked at the floor. Tsunade wasn't his mother. Would never be his mother and... he took a deep breath. His lungs once again working properly. And she had no intention of replacing his mother. She merely attempted to teach him. That was all, he didn't need to read more into the situation.

"You ready for round two?" Tsunade asked. "This time with paying attention to your body?"

The question reminded him of Sakura and her way to teach them this morning. Once again he found the two women frightening similar.

In fact Anko had a bit of Tsunade as well, just hidden behind a far more vicious facade.

Why were all the women in his life scary as all hell?

"I'm ready." He nodded once. No matter, he would soldier on. He wouldn't fail.

-o-

Sakura let her head hit the table she had found herself seated on. She, together with Shikamaru and Tenten had been taken to the academy and found themselves in a classroom once more. Yesterday had kinda been a bust as far as training went for Sakura. Her teachers were all busy, either on missions or teaching other people. Her teammates being those other people. Ino had been training as well, which meant Sakura had to train by herself. Which had advantages. For one, she could finally indulge in a bit of theoretical learning. Something she hadn't been able to do in ages.

She had missed the library. It hardly provided the most hands on approach to self-improvement and the lessons here wouldn't be all that helpful in the long run. But hey! Theory had it's place and if she remembered to adapt it to the situation at hand this could be worth it's weight in gold.

She grinned as she tore through the books on leadership. The mental challenge of bringing all the different opinions on how to lead people together and sort out what worked and what didn't kept her wide awake until late into the night.

Of course, the next morning she found herself hauled into the academy to get another lesson on leadership. Iruka looked at the three chunin placed in front of him, looking slightly surprised at their presence.

"Sakura could you stop that? You aren't here for long. It's just a quick lecture on your duties as chunin and how to lead a team most efficiently." He snorted at the last part. "Not that anybody has ever figured that out. It's mostly a number of guidelines that seem to work for the most part."

"So we are send out there with the barest idea of what we are doing." Shikamaru raised an eyebrow.

Sighing Iruka nodded. "That's exactly it. Every team is different, every team reacts different to different methods." He had switched into lecture mode. "So a method that worked for one team. The treat of violence for example, doesn't work for another team."

Tenten nodded quickly. "Especially if you can't enforce it."

Both Sakura and Shikamaru nodded solemnly, in this group of chunin not one could actually overpower their team. Well, maybe Shikamaru could, but both Sakura and Tenten couldn't hope to really hurt their teammates in a straight up fight. Not yet at any rate, Sakura had plans to change the situation, but that would take time.

"Exactly. It's also considered something Konoha frowns upon. We prefer to lead our teams by gaining their respect, not by making them afraid of us." Iruka explained.

Shikamaru simply let his head fall onto his table, groaning in despair.

Sakura managed to restrict herself to a grimace, while Tenten started laughing hysterically.

Respect, right.

"Oh come on you three. Your teammates do respect you." Iruka glared at them angrily.

"Ehh, maybe. But there's a difference between respect and actually, you know respect." Sakura sighed. "They know I'm strong, they know I'm capable." For a given value of both. "But they also know they are much better than me.

"Same here." Tenten shrugged. "I just can't compete with Neji and Lee's just insane."

"No problems with Choji, but I don't think Ino even knows what the word respect means." Shikamaru thought about it for a second. "At least in regard to me."

Iruka rolled his eyes. "Do your teammates trust you?" He asked them.

Shikamaru shrugged, Tenten nodded quickly. Sakura considered it for a second. Sasuke? Yeah, he probably trusted her. Naruto... she shrugged and nodded to Iruka. "Well I suppose."

"There you have it, then they respect you. Even if that respect is not for your raw fighting capabilities. It's there. Build on that." He marched up and down in front of them. "Trust, trust is the most important part of a team. If you don't trust each other..." Sakura tuned him out, she had read most of that in the books yesterday.

Also the part about inspiring fear, in order to make them loyal. Wouldn't work on Naruto and Sasuke. Naruto only ever let her hit him... and even when he didn't let her hit him, he recovered almost instantly anyway, so at worst he would cringe, then do whatever he wanted anyway.

So she had to rely on their trust. And trust in them to tell her when she had a stupid idea. Like attack Gaara with a sleeping gas that called out Shukaku. That had turned out so well.

On the bright side, she doubted anybody else would react like that to sleeping gas, how many people could have a demon sealed into them? Around nine right? And how many of those were likely to break out if you send them to sleep? At least one.

Yeah, not going to test it on another Jinchuriku, well Naruto maybe. He didn't appear to have a problem with going to sleep after all.

Hearing a sigh she looked up. Iruka glared at her and Shikamaru. "Are you two even listening?"

They looked at each other, then returned their gaze to Iruka. "Err... yes?"

A raised eyebrow conveyed Iruka's opinion extremely well. "I suppose you have other things on your mind, however this is for your benefit. Normally a chunin isn't given any extra training, they are just send out there and told to figure it out."

Yeah, and people wondered why so many ninja turned weird. Cracked under their first command, Sakura certainly saw that in her future.

"Now, can you please pay attention? It's not really that boring." He coughed slightly and returned to his lecture. Sakura tried to pay attention, but the duties of a chunin were well known to her, having gone over that back in the academy already and she hadn't forgotten.

And since he had finished his leadership suggestions, he had nothing of interest to tell her there as well.

"Ok, let's get into your increased pay." Iruka blinked at them, as the more or less unconcerned chunin suddenly all leaned towards him. Sakura found his expression terribly amusing.

"Should have known that would catch your attention." He shook his head slowly. "Anyway, for a chunin the payout on missions and more importantly between missions is a good bit higher. For one your basic wage is doubled and on the missions you get a leadership bonus, depending on the difficulty of missions. D-Rank only give a ten percent increase, C-Rank a twenty five percent increase. B-Rank a fifty percent increase and A-Rank a hundred percent increase."

Sakura frowned slightly. It made sense she supposed, but it also meant she would have to accept more dangerous missions to get more pay.

"It's essentially the same for jonin, the bonus is just increased a bit further. Also they are given S-Rank missions, which pay out an additional bonus."

Sakura listened to him drone on a bit more, before she had enough. They got more money depending on how they did on the missions? Why did nobody introduce genin to that system? Apparently because genin weren't expected to go on really difficult missions, or make difficult decisions. They were supposed to learn and figure out their own limits.

At least in Konoha. She doubted other villages had the same respect for a childhood.

Another ten minutes of lectures she barely managed to pay attention to and Iruka let them out with a sigh. He frowned a bit at Sakura, likely wondering where the studious girl went. But Sakura had to force herself to pay attention in the academy, she had worked hard. She just couldn't muster the motivation to listen to this stuff here and now.

"Ugh, I thought he would never finish." Shikamaru stretched slowly, sighing heavily. "Thank god it's over now."

"Geez you are exaggerating. I found the team leading stuff helpful." Tenten interjected.

Sakura shrugged. "If I hadn't already read about it in the library I might have too. Not that it helps much, there are so many different camps on how to lead..."

"Yes, which is one reason I didn't listen too closely. My father has actual experience leading a team. And no offense to Iruka, but my father has more experience on how I should lead than him. So no sense in listening to Iruka." Shikamaru explained, looking slowly from one to the other.

"Makes sense I suppose. Damn I wish Anko was still around, but she left yesterday, no training for me." Sakura hung her head.

"Hey, that might actually be a common problem, Gai's also gone, so Lee doesn't have his primary teacher... though Neji still has some Hyuga, not that he doesn't prefer to train away from them anyway.

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "Ohh? With you maybe?"

"Hmm? Of course. Well on occasion with Lee, but he tries to limit exposure."

"So, you want us to train with you or something?" Shikamaru interjected.

Tenten nodded excitedly. "Exactly! Especially since at some point we'll be mixing and matching teams. Learning each other's fighting styles will be useful."

"Hard to argue with that." Sakura agreed an looked at Shikamaru.

He shrugged. "Not as if you can run me any more ragged than Ino will."

And damn his apathy to hell.

"Then it's decided. We'll get together and train every morning until our teachers are back." Tenten nodded to herself.

-o-

Jirayia paced in front of her desk, laden to the brink with paperwork. Paperwork she should be doing, instead of watching him pace.

"So, why are you here now?" She asked tiredly.

"Because I didn't catch you yesterday." He admitted.

"And why did you want to catch me yesterday?"

He sighed. "I want to train Naruto. Show him the world, make him ready to become Hokage one day."

Tsunade nodded slowly. "I see, and you want my permission?" She didn't really have an opinion on it. The kid seemed nice and all, but she didn't know him well enough to give any judgment yet. That Jirayia and Sasuke vouched for him did give him a substantial boost in her opinion of him. And if Jirayia wanted to take on an apprentice? Well, he could. She wouldn't stand in his way.

"Yes and no. Another reason to take him on the trip is Akatsuki." Jirayia sighed and sat down on the chair in front of the desk. "I should be able to keep him safe from them, always on the move, hard to track down. Also keeps Konoha safe, while we are at it."

Tsunade raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms. "Akatsuki? You haven't mentioned them yet."

Not that it surprised her. She had been here for a few days and still people vied for her attention, demanding this, that and generally making a nuisance of themselves. Of course, she had expected that, you couldn't just swoop in and take over the work of decades in a matter of hours.

"From what I know, they are after the Jinchuriku. I have no idea why they are." Jirayia rubbed his nose. "I'm also following leads on Orochimaru. Another reason to take Naruto with me. I could teach him while I search for him."

"Seems pretty clear to me." Tsunade leaned back and watched her oldest friend, oldest friend that still lived at least. And hadn't turned traitor.

"But I don't want to mess up the team dynamic! They are doing great. They are better than most teams, they have the potential to surpass the great teams. Not just individual fighters that don't get into each others way, but a real team. But they need all of them together to get that effect. You saw that in the battle against Orochimaru. Take one of them out of the equation..." He had started pacing again in the middle of the rant.

"That's even more of a reason to separate them. They need to learn to form teams with other people as well." Or at least that had been the rational in the past. And all the great teams were capable of that at least.

Jirayia's hand slammed onto the desk, causing her to raise her eyebrow again. "That's just it, Naruto wouldn't learn that, at all. He would be a loner, somebody who can't just slip into a team. He would be used to do things on his own." He shrugged, visibly calming himself again. "And the other two might get working with other teams. But not to the same extent as with each other. For that you need chemistry. Chemistry they have developed amongst each other. Not that I have any idea why."

He looked at her helplessly. "But... I want to train him, need to train him."

Tsunade looked at the man, so torn by the issue that he came to her, made her decide. She grumbled a bit. As if he couldn't make his own decisions. "You are still that little brat at heart aren't you? Probably why you get along with the brat so well."

Jirayia opened his mouth and she could just see Sasuke's name on his lips, before he decided to close it again, he had learned some restraint. Instead he shrugged. "I guess."

Well, Jirayia wanted to go gallivanting around, looking for Orochimaru and Akatsuki. Worthwhile goals to be sure.

He also wanted to teach Naruto, the resident Jinchuriki. Also a worthwhile goal.

He could do it both at once, but it would cost team seven their group cohesion and Naruto valuable experiences of working within a group and not just in a group.

If he stayed however Naruto would miss out on training Jirayia could provide.

Like the techniques of his father. Though scrolls could help out at least a little in that regard. And who had thought Kakashi again?

"So, what about Kakashi? Didn't the fourth train him?" Yes, with scrolls describing various steps of the way and Kakashi teaching the brat what the scrolls didn't mention, couldn't mention.

"Well." Jirayia rubbed his chin. "Well, he hasn't actually mastered the rasengan. Or at least I don't think he did."

"He knows it though?"

A slow nod. "Yes, I think he does at least know it. Worked a bit with Minato on it actually, nothing big, just a few ideas but..."

"So, just hand a few scrolls describing it to Kakashi, and anything else you might want to teach the kid, hand in more scrolls with instructions as you think about them and Kakashi can hand them over to Naruto. He's going to be busy with Sasuke anyway, the kid still needs to learn to use his sharingan better. And Sakura can benefit from his leadership skills." She smiled at Jirayia. "Seems like the best solution really."

Jirayia nodded, though he looked slightly defeated as well. "I suppose."

"You wanted to take him with you, not just because you could have taught him?" She could understand that at least.

"Yes. I... wasn't around as much as I would have liked during his childhood. Couldn't draw too much attention to him. We did catch some spies hanging around him. We think we caught all of them, but..." He shrugged. "No need to draw more attention than absolutely necessary."

She nodded, those reports had been some of the first, people investigating Naruto because he had become something of a pariah in the village. Though Tsunade noticed a bit less of that. She supposed beating Gaara had to be good for something.

Jirayia coughed silently. "I don't suppose the security of the village is enough to make you make him go with me?"

She merely raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, if Akatsuki attacks here, this is much safer and we might be able to take them out once and for all."

She nodded. "And we get some nice money for the bounty on them, some fame for bringing them down." She smirked at him. "And if they stumble over you out there you'll be lucky to get away with just your and Naruto's lives."

His expression changed for a split second, confusion? Then he shrugged it off. "Maybe, but yes he's safer here. Safer and not as hampered in his development. I'll just have to give Kakashi hell, so he takes a more active role in their training. Lazy bastard."

Tsunade didn't bother raising an eyebrow. She knew perfectly well that Jirayia had the same hands off approach to teaching Kakashi had. Of course, both of them could be more proactive, if the kids in question asked for it, or the situation demanded it.

"That all? I still have to sort through all of this and once Shizune gets back..."

"Well... no, no. That's it. I suppose I should be happy about it, it's the best solution. It's just..."

"I know. But we can't have everything. Can we?" She thought back to Dan and Nawaki and to Sasuke, who lost so much as well.

"No..." Jirayia shook his head. "We can't have everything. Not at all."

-o-

Naruto looked around the Hyuga compound. It had been five days since he woke up and Hinata practically dragged him home with her. Not that he minded terribly. He still, kinda, would have preferred Sakura. But really, she had the hots for Sasuke and Sasuke to Naruto's eternal regret seemed to be interested in her as well. In a manner of speaking at least.

Besides, Hinata, while not hot like Sakura had her own advantages. And she didn't hit him too. Weirdly he wasn't actually sure if he counted that as an advantage or not. He did resolve not to think about that too deeply though. That way madness waited.

In any case, he now found himself seated around a low table, a beet red Hinata at his side, in a very pretty kimono that made her look really good. Briefly he imagined Sakura in such a kimono and compared her to Hinata. Well, he would have a hard time deciding who looked better. Ino joined them. Yes, a very hard time deciding who looked better.

Ah well, he had Hinata. Not that he knew what exactly he had Hinata for, but he wouldn't have known with Sakura either. Relationships were pretty new to him. He had the whole teammate thing down. Now he would have to get the relationship thing down.

He looked at Hiashi, who seemed to have a small smirk plastered on his face the entire time Naruto sat at the table. Though it grew for a second, every time he looked at the other guy. The one with the permanent frown on his face.

On his side sat Hinata's little sister, Hanabi. She looked on in either slight confusion or simply interest. Naruto kinda felt like a bug under a microscope. The fact that the meal had be largely silent and stiff didn't help that feeling at all.

It seemed nobody actually talked during the meal.

Naruto glanced at the frowning guy. He seemed a little bit familiar, but from where?

Memories flashed through his head, the Hokage's office, a reprimand because he had pranked somebody, this guy in fact!

He scrunched up in thought, barely noticing that Hiashi's smirk seemed to grow bigger, before he fought it down again. On the other hand the frown on the guy seemed to grow bigger as well. And he didn't fight it down again.

Now what did Naruto do to him? The itching powder? No that had been targeted at... he gulped. If he ever found that Anbu who captured him that day he would have to give the guy a huge present. Sure he had been tortured by flying ramen, but if he actually had hit Anko... he shuddered.

So, what else. A flash of pink came to him. "Ah! The paint bomb!" He slammed his fist into his hand, only to realize that he had said the last part out loud. He slowly turned to the man, now outright glaring at Naruto and gulped.

Hiashi coughed loudly his face red, something probably entered the wrong pipe.

"Uhh..." Naruto looked at the angry guy. "I'm... I'm really sorry about that. I really shouldn't have done it." He bowed slightly.

The man had developed a twitch in his left eye. "It's alright." He ground out. "Nobody has been permanently harmed."

Hiashi's cough only got worse.

Hinata looked on, deeply red, though she seemed to have developed a cough as well, judging by the noise. In fact, she and Hiashi looked pretty similar at the moment, bowed over, face hidden from view emitting strange noises... Naruto shrugged, the Hyuga were weird.

Only Hanabi didn't seem affected she simply seemed confused.

Naruto still bowed to the man again. "I'm still sorry. It had been childish of me and as a student at the academy I should have held myself up to higher standards." There, he did listen to all those lectures the old man gave him. Nobody could say he didn't!

And hey, it seemed to work, the glare lessened to a frown. "As I said, it's alright. And it has happened a while ago." He looked at Naruto strangely. "And... hmm..." His lips twitched. "Eh, maybe another time."

He looked at Hiashi and Hinata and shook his head. "Well, she is her father's daughter." Hiashi and Hinata looked up at those words, looked at each other with wide eyes. Hinata immediately ducked her head down again, Hiashi on the other hand looked at Hinata and a real smile split his face for a second. It disappeared as fast as it appeared and Naruto thought he might have imagined it.

Slowly the other guy, Naruto should really get his name at some point, stood up. "Hiashi... you should remember something, we were all young once." His face strange blank he turned around, giving a last look at Naruto. "Young and foolish." Yes, he definitely smiled there. "In any case, it has been educational meeting you Uzumaki." He bowed slightly and left the room.

Naruto stared after him, then shrugged. He didn't get what he meant by that. They hadn't said anything but the last exchange and then not that much. And why did Hiashi look so pale?

"Uhh.. what just happened?" Hanabi asked, her voice carrying the same confusion Naruto felt.

Looking down at her Hiashi shook his head. "The elder just reminded me of something, nothing to worry about." He turned to Naruto. "I... think we took up enough of your time. Maybe Hinata would like to show you her room?"

Beside him Naruto heard a thump, Hinata lay crumpled on the floor. "Hinata?" He shook her slightly. "Hinata!" She didn't wake up, she did however mutter something. "Noo Naruto, we mustn't!" A serene smile on her deep red face.

Naruto looked at Hiashi in confusion, the man didn't seem very concerned. "What's wrong with her? Is she sick?"

Hanabi also looked up to her father.

"No, she's fine, just a little bit... excited." Naruto couldn't shake the feeling that Hiashi just said something that went straight over Naruto's head. But he really couldn't say what. Somehow he suspected it was perverted though, adult jokes always were perverted, he sighed.

"Don't worry about it." Hiashi waved him off, whatever display of humor he might have shown had disappeared again. "Just bring her to her room. She'll wake up soon enough." He looked down at Naruto. "Good night."

Naruto sat there and stared as Hiashi left the room as well, Hanabi right on his heels. How exactly did he expect Naruto to bring Hinata to her room, if he had no idea where to find said room?

-o-

Hiashi kept his smile firmly under control. His little show at the table had been more than enough for one day. Though the realization that he and Hinata shared something, well it did warm the heart, even if they only shared the same sense of humor.

Blinking he wondered what that would mean for Naruto when Hinata grew up. He preferred not to think about it. As much as a liability her innocence would be in the field, he didn't want to imagine her without out.

But thinking of the dinner, Naruto had shown, that while he didn't have great manners he could pick up on them if he really applied himself. Though aping only got him so far. If Hinata wanted to marry him... but he got ahead of himself. They were still children.

"Father?" Hanabi asked. "What did you say to Naruto? What did you mean when you said Hinata was too exited?" She looked at him with narrowed eyes, clearly expecting a more thorough explanation than don't worry about it.

Ah, the inquisitiveness of children. "I'll tell you when you are older."

He didn't smile, not even a little, it would have given the game away.

Hinata would have accepted it, and meekly turned away, especially at that age. Hanabi didn't possess Hinata's meekness. "But I want to know now."

He wondered how long he could drag this out before she gave up?

The small frown on her face told him that this might be a long night. And a small part of him wanted to step down and hug his other little girl. But, of course, he didn't. Hyuga decorum and all that.

-o-

Sasuke groaned as he made his way home. Tsunade had managed to do what he thought impossible. She had surpassed Anko as the most sadistic teacher possible on his list. Those punches hurt, even if she pulled them. Only the fact that Shizune stood on the sidelines and healed the worst of it, while Tsunade explained how the healing worked and he watched it with his sharingan enabled him to keep going until all light had disappeared. And he still hadn't mastered that stupid leaf trick.

Growling at the one in his hand, slowly, ever so slowly being crushed into a fine paste he gave up. He had made some strides, especially after asking Sakura for help this morning.

Tomorrow Kakashi should come back as well, giving them another way to train. Meeting with the other teams had driven up the difficulty considerably. Though fighting against Lee had proven to be disappointing. The boy had no defenses against genjutsu. None!

They would have to work a great deal more on that. He rubbed a sore spot on his stomach, where the boy had managed to break through his defenses.

"Man, this sucks. Blind and disoriented and still able to tag me." He muttered to himself. At least Lee hadn't gloated, unlike Naruto and Sakura. They loved gloating. Neji too, arrogant ass.

Though the way he hunted Sakura's ass all over the clearing had been entertaining. Apparently he had taken her lesson about not showing off to heart.

Of course, Sakura's improved skills with the wires and the fact that she could use poisons meant it hadn't been easy for him either. He hadn't dared let anything touch him.

He opened his door and wearily entered the bathroom. Slowly his hand crept to the nearly empty kunai holder.

"If I were you I wouldn't do that." A voice said.

"Why the fuck didn't we knock the asshole out?" A female voice grumbled.

Slowly Sasuke turned around, eying the people before him slowly. Three boys one girl, sound headbands, somewhat familiar.

"Because Orochimaru wants me mostly unharmed I suspect." Sasuke replied calmly.

"Hehehe, he's smart." The first voice a boy, laughed.

"Oh yes, as if this is such a fucking great intuitive leap." The girl mocked her companion and him, Sasuke supposed.

"Who are you?" Sasuke asked the boy

"Our names aren't important. As long as you just give up and come with us, we aren't going to hurt you."

"Much." The girl added under her breath, barely audible for Sasuke.

He looked at them, all leering at him. With a sigh he held out his hands. "I suppose that's reasonable."

Their shocked expressions were worth the slight humiliation of admitting defeat so easily. "I must say I'm impressed, not many Ninja would wait until I'm weak and exhausted from training to attempt a kidnapping." He shook his head. "Most would simply jump at the first opportunity, believing themselves to be more than capable of coming out on top."

The grimace on the fat boys face told it all. Though maybe he couldn't blame them. If Orochimaru had ordered them to move as fast as possible, they could just be under extreme pressure. And they did get lucky.

"So you aren't even going to fucking try and escape? In your own fucking village?" The girl snorted derisively. "What a moron."

Again Sasuke shrugged. "Well I'm sure you could knock me out faster than I can scream, so no point in resisting is there?"

She grunted once. "What are we standing around for then? Let's get going already!"

"You first Uchiha." The leader prodded Sasuke once, while Sasuke rolled his eyes and started moving. As they left the house Sasuke looked back once, at the little note now laying on the formerly blank table. Really, looking a sharingan user in the eyes? One as talented as him? He might not have the chakra to fight them. But to trick them like that? Now he just needed to delay them long enough and... he slumped forward, just as he saw the chunin coming their way.

Damn, they weren't foolish enough to keep him awake through that fight then.

-o-

Sakura, Tenten and Shikamaru looked warily at each other. They had just been called out of their beds for some reason and neither liked the idea of getting called to the Hokage at this time.

"Please, don't let it be another invasion." Tenten grumbled, while Sakura looked forlornly at the clock in the corner. Nearly three in the morning. Two more hours of sleep could have been hers. But noo, Tsunade had to call them here.

The evil person in question strode into the room, a tired worried look on her face. "Alright you three, I'll cut straight to the point. Sasuke's been kidnapped, you are bringing him back."

Sakura opened her mouth, only to close it again almost immediately.

Tenten managed to voice her question though. "What?"

Shikamaru simply buried his face in his palm, muttering about the unfairness of it all.

"How?" Sakura finally managed to ask, the very concept seemed impossible to her. Sure, in their sparring matches she managed to get Sasuke on occasion, but mostly because she relied on surprise and his desire to show off. Something that he slowly managed to reduce.

"For one, there were at least four attackers, they were spotted as they left Konoha and Sasuke managed to leave a note. He planned on slowing them down, but they knocked him out, so that plan probably failed." Tsunade growled. "They disabled the chunin patrol that spotted them, but that should have cost them."

Sakura frowned, if they managed to take out chunin like that. "How many chunin did attack them?"

"Four, a standard patrol. Don't worry, your teams should be able to take them on. If you can get Sasuke to wake up he should help out as well."

"If Kabuto doesn't show up. If they sent him as well..." Sakura shuddered. That asshole frightened her considerably.

"Kabuto? He's working for Orochimaru right?" Tenten asked. "What makes you think these guys were send by Orochimaru?"

Tsunade looked at Tenten and shrugged. "I suspect Sakura is going by past evidence. Orochimaru has been after Sasuke since the forest of death. She also had a run in with him on her mission to retrieve me."

"What's more interesting to me is that you are sending our teams? Don't we have anybody more experienced or stronger?" Shikamaru piped up.

Tsunade slumped into her chair. "Sadly no we don't. Most jonin are on missions. As are the stronger chunin. And we only expect the first of them back tomorrow." She closed her eyes. "Your teams, even though you are as young as you are, are the best we have home, precisely because you are so young. You were our reserve."

She looked at them, her eyes hard. "So you go get Sasuke back. The chunin reported that they managed to hurt them at least. So you should be able to take them. They have to carry Sasuke as well as run while recovering from the fight. You are fresh."

With a sigh Shikamaru nodded. "I suppose that's true. And if they are only four we do have superior numbers."

"Exactly. And you should have superior soldiers too." Tsunade added.

Though Sakura found that doubtful. Say about Orochimaru what you wanted, he knew how to train people to their limit. And then he added his own personal twist to their strength.

"Can we get Shino's team as well?" Sakura asked, the boy and his bugs would be very useful. And it added even more numbers. Sakura liked numbers, it meant having more people to make up for any problems with her plans. And added a few more layers of protection for herself. As callous as that thought seemed. The same thing went for everybody after all.

Tsunade grimaced, but nodded. "I would have liked to keep some of you here, but I suppose three genin wouldn't make much of a difference if the other chunin forces and me can't stop somebody from attacking out in the open." She sighed tiredly. "Remind me again why I became Hokage? It's just one problem after another, ever since I arrived here."

Tenten gaped at the question, Shikamaru on the other hand stood straighter maybe he had found something he could respect in Tsunade? Beside her power that was.

"Because you knew somebody had to do it and you know you are the most suited to the task." Sakura quickly answered.

"If you say so. In any case, get your teams ready and get going. I'll send reinforcements as soon as they are available. So if you have no other choice, just delay them before the get away." Tsunade gave them a last look. "Dismissed."

They quickly left the office to collect their teammates, Sakura looked back over her shoulder, Tsunade sat slumped at her desk, staring at her hands, balled into fists.

If thy didn't manage to bring Sasuke back... Sakura doubted Tsunade would be the Hokage for more than a week.

-o-

Naruto yawned as he paced nervously up and down the street, waiting for the rest of the retrieval team to arrive.

Beside him stood Sakura, glaring holes into the wall. Neji, his usual asshole self stood there, glaring at everybody and everything equally. Ino had arrived with Sakura shortly after Naruto. Kiba and Akamaru had only arrived a second before Shikamaru and Choji.

Since he could see Tenten and Lee make their way over. Only Hinata and Shino were still missing.

"Would you stop that?" Neji sneered, we need all our strength for whatever battles are ahead. Though I think these numbers are wholly unnecessary."

Shikamaru glanced at Ino, then shrugged. "Maybe, but better to have them and not need them."

"Than need them and not have them. Exactly." Sakura finished the saying for him.

Neji looked at them and rolled his eyes, but shut up. About that at least. "He can still stop pacing like that. It's annoying."

At least he didn't call him a failure. Hard to claim after Naruto had gotten the reputation of having stopped Gaara, however little he actually did. Still in Neji's eyes Naruto had merely graduated from incompetent idiot, to at least somewhat competent idiot.

Progress!

"Who are we waiting for?" Tenten asked, before Naruto could give the arrogant asshole a piece of his mind.

"Hinata and Shino, but I can smell them already." Kiba answered quickly.

Naruto noticed the frown crossing Neji's face at the mention of Hinata, but a quick glare from Tenten nipped that in the bud.

"Hello Shino, Hinata." Sakura greeted them, stepping slightly away from the large group. Shikamaru and Tenten stepped up beside her. "As you all know Sasuke has been kidnapped. Four of Orochimaru's nin have managed to infiltrate Konoha and corner him. We are getting him back."

Tenten stepped up next. "The plan is simple, move in, take out the opposition, if we can capture them great. If not? Also great. I want nobody to get hurt here."

She turned to Shikamaru, who blinked and sighed, but stepped forward nevertheless. "Sakura, Tenten and me will lead a subgroup each. Kiba will take point until we have first contact. From there Shino will take over, assuming he managed to tag every enemy." He looked around. "Any questions?"

"How are the groups split?" Neji asked, nobody could miss the look he gave Hinata, especially since she kinda shrank back. Naruto growled at him, he could be nicer to her. Should be nicer to her.

Not as if she ever did anything to him, but Sakura reeled him back. "We can deal with that later Naruto." She turned to Neji. "You will be with Lee and Shino under Tenten, Hinata is with Shikamaru and Kiba is with me and Naruto."

Naruto glanced at Hinata, he would have liked it if she had been with him, but then, that might be the reason they had separated them?

And when did they have the time to plan this anyway?

"Any more questions?" Tenten asked.

When none came she nodded. "Ok, then lets move out Sasuke doesn't rescue himself."

-o-

Slowly consciousness returned to Sasuke. The sun just poked over the trees, maybe that had woken him?

"Fuck, this sucks. They were just chunin and they managed to fucking hurt us this much?" The female from earlier cursed.

Sasuke grunted as an elbow found it's way into his stomach. Damn, those guys weren't gentle.

"You awake assface?" The female asked rudely. "If so you get to move on your own. Carrying you is just slowing us down."

"Are you sure that's a good idea Tayuya?" Another guy asked. "We should just knock him out again. "

The girl, Tayuya, just laughed. "He's a fucking pussy! He gave in almost as soon as we arrived. No idea what Orochimaru would want with him. He so goddamn worthless."

Sasuke kept his head down, careful not to look at any of them. He needed them to see him as too weak and pathetic to bother with. He nearly smirked, even a month ago the mere idea would have seemed strange to him. But with the genjutsu training from Kakashi came the idea of deception. And with Sakura's constant ploy to look weak and pathetic... well he continued falling for it.

Not like the first few times of course, but he did hold back, almost against his will. Why shouldn't it work for him for once?

"Hehe, he's not stupid, he knows we are better than him. Don't worry so much Jirobo."

Another name to add to the list, good.

Suddenly he found himself on his feet again. He didn't stop himself from stumbling around, adding to the illusion of weakness. The look from the fat guy, Joyimbo, reminded him that maybe he shouldn't overdo it though.

Overdoing just made him suspicious.

He straightened himself and looked around. Not a place he recognized, so already far ahead of any potential rescue. He had to hope they came soon, or he might have to face all four of them at once. Not that he necessary would loose. He could win, theoretically. He didn't hold any illusions about his chances though. Even Itachi might have trouble with those guys.

And no damn it that wasn't just wishful thinking.

"What are you waiting for? Get going damn lazy looser." The girl prodded him harshly, causing him to start walking.

"Honestly, I expect some more fire from an Uchiha." The last guy smirked at him.

"Bah, he's got it all shoved into his ass in that soft place. Don't expect too much from there. They are all weak failures. Only Orochimaru has the guts to search for true power." Tayuya again. "Even if he is a grade A asshole."

As they accelerated Sasuke noticed that Tayuya remained behind him, stupid bitch. Probably to knock him out at the first sign of trouble. Either that, or...

Another prod in his pack made him move faster than he liked. "Don't slow down bitch or I might have to carry you again."

He sighed, should have guessed they wouldn't be that foolish. No slowing them down then, but maybe he could prepare himself for the confrontation, watch their movements, seek for weaknesses. That sort of thing.

Make sure they couldn't knock him out again, or at least make them work for it.

His head hurt, now that he could take stock of the situation. Assholes.

-o-

"They had a rest here, not long though, maybe ten minutes?" Kiba frowned at the ground. "In any case, we are catching up."

Sakura nodded and looked at the rising sun. How long until the infiltration team ran into backup? Would it make a difference? Would they have enough? Would this be the time one of her decisions caused a friend of her's to die?

"You look worried." Naruto muttered, not looking at her.

"I... I am, I've been a chunin for a week and I'm send out to catch some guys who managed to infiltrate Konoha, march right into the middle of it in fact and abduct a ninja, right from under our noses. Then they have a fight with four experienced chunin and win." She shook her head. "Of course I'm worried."

"Eh, don't be. They are only four. And once we reach Sasuke, we are twelve. For each of them one full team! It shouldn't be a problem."

Sakura smiled weakly at Naruto. If only she could believe that. But would Orochimaru send only them on a mission like this? Wouldn't they have support hidden somewhere on the way?

Shikamaru jumped to her side. "How will we handle the fights themselves? One team per enemy? Or do we all rush one enemy?"

Sakura frowned. "What do you think?"

"Eh, first instinct would be one team per enemy. We can catch up to the fleeing guys as soon as we are finished moping up the resistance. With Shino we shouldn't have a problem following them." He shrugged. "Going all against one would have the same advantages. But... we aren't used to fighting as one large team, so I would advise against that. We would just get in each others way."

Naruto nodded. "We have that problem if we fight in three man teams we don't know exactly what the other team-members do. In a bigger team..."

"Exactly. So we keep our teams as it is now." Shikamaru agreed.

"And if we manage to free Sasuke we bail. No point in fighting them if Sasuke is already in our hand. I'm not repeating the thing with Gaara!" Sakura interjected.

"You've got no complains from me on that front." Shikamaru said.

"Or from me." Tenten agreed. She looked ahead. "I'm getting nervous the closer we come. Geez, this should be easy, eleven versus four. Yet I'm nervous as all hell."

"Well, you are smart enough to be chunin, so that should be natural." Sakura replied.

Naruto looked at them strangely. "Geez, what's wrong with you? You should be happy, but all I hear is moaning. If I had been made chunin..."

"You would jump up and down in joy, proclaiming your supremacy." Sakura finished for him. "Which, by the way, is why you aren't chunin. Well, one of the reasons anyway."

Naruto glanced at his stomach and nodded sadly. "Yeah, there is this as well I suppose."

Tenten looked at his stomach as well. "Huh? What are you talking about?"

Naruto glared at Sakura before she could open her mouth. She looked away, no word from her this time.

Shikamaru had apparently disappeared right after Tenten asked, smart bastard. He knew exactly when not to be around.

Naruto watched Tenten for a few seconds, before he sighed, with what could only be resignation.

"Well, you know how the fourth killed the Kyuubi?" He asked her.

She glanced at his stomach once then nodded. "He didn't did he?"

Naruto blinked then nodded sadly. "He didn't. An, well now you know how I could turn into the fox to fight Gaara."

Tenten didn't seem that shocked at the revelation. "I had wondered. Though, you aren't the Kyuubi right?"

Naruto quickly shook his head. "Hell no. I'm just his prison. And well, I can use some of it's power for myself. Even learned to just take it. Kinda." He somehow managed to shuffle around while jumping from tree to tree.

Tenten seemed to think about it for a while, then shrugged. "Well, I am a bit worried, but hey, you haven't eaten me yet, so I'm gonna believe that you won't in the future." Suddenly she smiled widely. "Hey! Maybe you and Neji can talk about being branded or something. Every now and then he's going into this funk about nobody understanding him and his suffering." She rolled her eyes. "I get that it's hard and yeah I really don't understand it. But you do, don't you Naruto?"

Naruto looked at her strangely. Clearly uninterested, if not repulsed by the idea.

"Man, so I'll have to find somebody else to make sure he relaxes a bit, being that high-strung all the time can't be good." Tenten sighed. "In any case, don't worry about it Naruto. As I said, you haven't attacked anybody yet." Naruto opened his mouth. "Anybody from Konoha." Tenten interrupted, only to have Naruto opened his mouth again. "Who's been loyal. Damn it Uzumaki."

He blushed brightly, but nodded. Sakura giggled and even Kiba snorted a bit ahead. "We are catching up slowly. We should reach them way before they leave fire country." He informed them. "It will take a few more hours though."

-o-

Kakashi groaned as he made his way up the roofs to the Hokage tower. The mission had gone spectacularly bad. Maybe he should go and start training more seriously as well? Certainly should make sure something like that never would happen again.

He could just see Gai screaming in happiness if he asked him to train again.

You could count on some things at least.

"Kakashi! You are here good!" Tsunade greeted him as he reached her window.

Her expressions spelled trouble. Trouble with a capital T and heavy emphasis on the rest of the word.

"Orochimaru kidnapped Sasuke. Or had somebody kidnap Sasuke, it should be impossible even for him to get in here, as crippled as he is. I sent Sakura and her comrades out to stop them."

Oh yes, he could just scream in happiness at the news. Tsunade frowned at him, grabbed him roughly, her hands glowing gently, easing his pain, even as her other hand roughly manhandled him.

"I..." He tried to say something, but Tsunade simply continued the briefing.

"If they are facing only the kidnappers I'm not too worried about them. But Orochimaru might have send reinforcements. The only good thing about the whole situation is that he's probably as strapped for people as we are, so there won't be too many of those." She glared at him. "Still, you'll need to hurry. We can't be sure. That said, let's make sure you are ready for the mission."

She flipped him over, before he could even ask what she meant. Paper went flying all around them as she used him to sweep it all off her desk. Maybe he should worry about the savage joy he saw on her face, just before she concentrated on healing him.

Shizune took that moment to enter the room with Temari, Kankuro, and Baki in tow. "Just make sure you..." Shizune trailed off, as soon as she took in the scene. Tsunade leaning over Kakashi, who had been thrown over her desk, for better access.

"Well sis. Just consider that another incentive to becoming Kazekage. You can take your subordinates on your desk!" Kankuro whistled.

"When I asked if Konoha saps your brains, I didn't expect you to answer that question in front of the Hokage!" Temari snapped at her brother. Baki remained silent, simply taking the scene in.

"Ugh you are here... actually that gives me an interesting opportunity." Tsunade finished her healing session and dragged Kakashi off the table. "Thanks to your little invasion we are shorthanded." She glared at the three nin from Sand, who looked suitably chastised, or at least pretended very well.

"That allowed Orochimaru to sneak in a few infiltrators. Luckily for you they weren't interested in Gaara, we wouldn't have been able to protect him."

Baki opened his mouth to protest, but Temari nodded. "We understand. Before you hand him over, you want us to go and help out your forces to stop the infiltrators."

Tsunade smirked. "Exactly. You'll follow Kakashi's orders." She glanced at Baki and frowned. "However, he stays here. I don't like the idea of somebody as powerful as him in a position like that."

"I'm the strongest..." Baki started, glaring at Tsunade.

Again Temari stepped in. "That's acceptable. I'm sure Kakashi will be enough to stop any major threat we run across."

Tsunade glared at Temari, then looked at Baki. "And you just let her talk like that?"

Kakashi watched the exchange as well. He wouldn't have figured the older man to let a mere genin talk like that.

Instead of Baki Temari answered however. "I have the final authority over this mission. So I get to make the decisions. The elders felt somebody levelheaded should be in charge here."

Kakashi looked at the other man, who seemed to be controlling himself remarkably well, not counting the near slip ups.

Tsunade on the other hand focused on Temari. "Oh? In any case, you seem awfully accommodating all of a sudden. From what your profile told me you were just as hot headed in the tournament. And now you just accept all of my demands?"

They were reasonable enough, at least in Kakashi's opinion.

"We can't afford a war with Konoha, just as you can't afford a war with us. Not with Sound and the other villages out there." Temari sighed. "No matter how rude or demanding you are, I won't risk war by being rude myself." She even managed to hide her glare, somewhat at least.

Tsunade snorted. "They were reasonable demands and you know it."

"You didn't say anything about how rude you were I notice." Temari countered.

"Kakashi will lead the way. His dogs shouldn't have a problem with it. Baki will stay here. In fact, we'll show him Gaara, just to prove that he's alright." Tsunade grinned at them nastily. "Much better even than he has ever been. It's impressive what a bit of sympathy and sleep can do for a person."

Oh, he liked how that brought a wince to the three people, especially Temari. She did regain her cool fast though.

"Thank you Hokage. I will make sure to remember that." Temari slowly forced out.

"See that you do. Now get moving. Time is wasting. Shizune, make sure our guest sees Gaara."

-o-

Well, so much for a new chapter every Friday. But I suppose a cold and a long trip might excuse that. Hopefully it doesn't stop my other work.

In any case, I'm going to change the release goal from Friday to Friday to Monday. Expect new chapters around then. Gives me a chance to fix any glaring errors(if I don't get sidetracked by videogames that is)

Again thanks to ZuzVaiyo for catching my mistakes.


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